VICTORIA BECKHAM TO SELL 600 ITEMS OF HER OWN CLOTHING

Victoria Beckham and THE OUTNET.COM have partnered to sell more than 600 items of her clothing in aid of the charity, mothers2mothers. THE OUTNET.COM, with the support of Christie’s who valued the items, will host the sale online from August 20th-25th, 2014.

In February this year, following an invitation from Anna Wintour and American Vogue to visit South Africa, Victoria met with mothers2mothers (m2m) founder Dr. Mitch Besser. The charity trains, employs and empowers Mentor Mothers, who are mothers living with HIV, in order to educate them on how to prevent the transmission of HIV from mothers to babies and improve the health of women and their families. Victoria was so moved by the experience that she wanted to do all she could to raise money and awareness.

“After spending just a few days with these remarkable women and learning more about the charity from Mitch, and his lovely wife Annie Lennox, I wanted to do as much as I could,” says Victoria Beckham. “It really was a life-changing experience; I’ve never experienced anything like it.”

Victoria felt that a sale of items from her wardrobe could be an incredibly powerful way to raise both money and awareness. With help from her mother and sister, Victoria carefully selected iconic pieces from her wardrobe – pieces from her early days with the Spice Girls, that she wore out with David Beckham, and from catwalk appearances, parties, awards shows and other events that have been heavily documented and photographed by the world’s press.

“I laughed a lot when we were going through my wardrobe as the pieces hold so many happy memories for me, David and the children,” says Victoria. “A lot of the clothes have been specially designed for me by the most talented designers and I’ve loved wearing them, however I now feel it’s someone else’s turn to enjoy them. We approached THE OUTNET.COM, part of The NET-A-PORTER Group, as they have an incredible global reputation and are the perfect partner for us to build awareness and raise as much money as possible for mothers2mothers.”

THE OUTNET.COM will be selling the items as a private online sale. The pieces include hats, shoes, bags and jewelry, designer ready-to-wear, costume pieces, coats, skiwear and evening dresses. Interested customers must register at THE OUTNET.COM from August 5th for a chance to shop the collection.

As a special treat for Victoria Beckham fans and THE OUTNET.COM customers, an auction of 10 of the most iconic pieces from Victoria’s wardrobe will be put up for sale in a ‘Going, Going, Gone’ reverse auction, where the Starting Price reduces by a fixed amount every five minutes – which makes for very exciting shopping on the site. Pieces such as the full length, white Dolce & Gabbana dress worn for the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards and the fluorescent yellow Roberto Cavalli gown worn for the pre-World Cup party in 2006 at David and Victoria Beckham’s country house will be part of the auction.

“We are thrilled to be working with Victoria Beckham and her team on this very exciting charity event,” says Stephanie Phair, president of THEOUTNET.COM. “From the start, THE OUTNET.COM has defined itself by its strong relationships and collaborations with designers in luxury fashion and we are confident we can draw an enormous amount of interest for these iconic items and raise awareness for mothers2mothers.”

“We are honored and extremely grateful to Victoria Beckham and THE OUTNET.COM for their very generous support of mothers2mothers,” says Dr Mitch Besser, founder of mothers2mothers. “The funds that are raised will help mothers2mothers’ Mentor Mothers reach even more HIV-positive mothers with critical health education and support, to stay healthy and protect their babies from HIV infection. HIV infections in children and maternal and infant deaths from AIDS are unnecessary and unacceptable. With the right education and empowerment, no baby should ever be born with HIV and no mother should die of AIDS. I’m sure everyone will have lots of fun shopping such a fashion treasure trove, and we’d like to thank those who do for joining us to eliminate HIV/AIDS in children and keep their mothers alive.”

Significant progress has been made over the last decade towards the elimination of paediatric AIDS. Yet each day, nearly 700 children are still infected with HIV. 90% of these children live in sub-Saharan Africa, and most acquire HIV from their mothers during pregnancy, childbirth and breastfeeding. This is unacceptable and tragic, because the transmission of HIV from mother-to-child is almost entirely preventable.

mothers2mothers (m2m) trains, employs and empowers mothers living with HIV to eliminate the transmission of HIV from mothers to babies and improve the health of women, their partners and families. Working alongside doctors and nurses in understaffed health centres as members of the healthcare team, these Mentor Mothers provide essential health education and psychosocial support. They are rigorously trained and paid, which benefits not only their families but also the community as a whole and reduces stigma associated with HIV. Since our founding, m2m has reached more than 1.2 million HIV-positive mothers in nine countries in sub-Saharan Africa, and catalysed affiliated Mentor Mother programmes in two additional countries. mothers2mothers is a partner in the United Nations’ Global Plan towards the Elimination of New HIV Infections among Children by 2015 and Keeping their Mothers Alive.

Learn more at www.m2m.org/victoria-beckham-charity-sale or follow mothers2mothers @m2mtweets.