The eighties, as I remember it, was the decade that brought rave dance parties, Wham, fluoro, designer labels worn on the outside and AIDS.
While my upper north shore white privileged hetero friends and myself were throwing ourselves into the flamboyant world of Sydney’s gay scene and the infamous Mardi Gras and Sleezeball parties (and drag nights at the Albury and Taxi Club), that same scene was feeling the brunt of the, at the time, deadly AIDs virus and the stigma, shame and finger pointing of a narrow minded society at large.
It was my first exposure to AIDS and HIV as a wide eyed teenager while working in the fashion world of Morrissey & Edmiston and their fellow designers. Back then the diagnosis was akin to a death sentence and we rallied together to throw fashion fundraisers to help find a cure. It was early days and the chief organiser of our Artists in Direct Support fashion parade at the now defunct Berlin Club died before that cure could be found.
Thirty years on and I now have close friends who live positively with HIV. There’s still no cure but there is a new drug regime that doesn’t kill the patient but instead allows those with HIV to live long and happy lives and manage their condition with little physical impact.
But for many the stigma and shame remains. Ludicrous really as HIV of course doesn’t discriminate, gay, straight, young, old, white, black, brown, skier, snowboarder, telemarker, republican, democrat, fascist, christian or atheist. It is surprisingly liberal in it’s diversity.
A year ago I found myself in the tiny remote ski town of Telluride, Colorado on the same night as the town’s annual Telluride Aids Benefit (TAB for short). The locals were abuzz about TAB and urged me to secure the last remaining tickets for my friend and I, assuring us it would be something we would never forget.
Seated in the auditorium that houses TAB the local on the seat next to me said “are you ready for this?”. To which I responded “ready for what?”
“Oh, you’ll see” was her reply.
Then the DJ started and what I did see was an audience go wild to the beat of the music as their friends strutted the cat walk in a series of choreographed vignettes featuring both local and national designers. Think of it as theatre meets fashion show, a fusion of enthusiasm and creativity served up in a thoroughly fun hour of antics followed by a fund raising auction and a live acoustic performance from Jewel.
The inspirational event has been going since 1994. Like all great events with passion it was fuelled by locals wanting to help their own. Telluride fashion designer Robert Presley was battling AIDS and a local comedy group run by Kandee DeGraw wanted to hold a benefit to help. Presley insisted any funds raised went to the Western Colorado AIDS Project rather than himself. That first year they raised $12000.
22 years and hundreds of thousands of dollars raised later the annual AIDS Benefit see over 150 Volunteer staff (from a town of only 2000) dedicate thousands of hour to create a week of events all dedicated to funding, fighting and educating including a Student Fashion Show entirely choreographed and organised by the Telluride High School. Few high school students are given this opportunity to both educate and be educated about acceptance, tolerance, empathy, compassion and passion in such a way.
Locals audition to be ‘models’ in the big TAB Benefit Gala on the Saturday night. Many return year after year for the buzz of walking the catwalk for good not evil. Local gyms become inundated with those same already mountain athletic types doing what they can to buff, polish and preen those bodies into naked perfection lest they find themselves in a pair of hot pants or slashed to the naval body suit in one of the catwalk sequences. Introverts (and cellulite) apparently need not apply.
The tickets to the Gala (this Saturday, February 27) can go for anything from $75 to $500 with Auction Items up for grabs both before the event and at the event including a SXSW VIP Experience and tickets to the Victoria’s Secret fashion show. There’s always an After Party, this year with DJ RUCKUS in association with Telluride’s Gay Ski Week (tickets still available). Then the Monday after the show the designers throw a sample sale for all the clothes modelled on that catwalk with proceeds going to TAB.
The board keeps it local with 85% of TAB funds stay in the state of Colorado, primarily on the Western Slope and in the Denver Metro Area where 50% of the states HIV infections originate. Four organisations in Colorado and three in Africa benefit from funds raised by TAB annually.
It is TAB week this week in Telluride and I am here again a year later. My friends are still living positively with HIV (this is a good thing) and my world is still missing those who have died from AIDs.
But the passion and drive from the Telluride community means many in our privileged first world will be educated to prevent future HIV infections and those living with the virus will be supported. It also means that many orphans with HIV and AIDs in Africa will also receive not just treatment but love, support and care.
Well done Telluride, well done.
If you would like to donate to TAB, become a patron or bid on an auction item visit www.aidsbenefit.org
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