Billabong sure knows how to throw a party, and for a good cause. The surf line put on its fifth annual Design for Humanity fashion, art and music block party celebration to benefit VH1’s Save the Music Foundation on the New York Street back lot of Paramount Pictures in Hollywood– and they’re probably still cleaning up the place from all the festivities.
The fashion, music and art-filled block party raised more than $100,000 for Save the Music. It featured two concert stages, a silent art auction, food trucks, bars, costumed photo ops with a Jack Sparrow/Johnny Depp look-alike and with Skull Candy headphones and accessories.
But the main attraction was a hotter than hot fashion show featuring one-of-a-kind Billabong bathing suits that took the chill out of the air from June gloom.
The looks parading down the runway on beach-perfect bodies were reminiscent of old school rock ‘n roll artists like Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan and Mick Jagger and their muses, including Pamela Courson and Uschi Obermaier. All 50 of the designs were custom-made for the show and used elements including vintage fabrics, deconstructed leather and crocheted tablecloths to make a statement.
Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros were the headlining performance on the main stage, evoking a Deadhead aura with their trippy stage lighting and mesmerizing beats.
Among those making the scene and showing their support: Holly’s World’s Holly Madison, Extreme Home Makover’s Ty Pennington, Nikita’s Tiffany Hines, Sean Stewart, Three6Mafia, Men of a Certain Age’s Brittany Curran and Secret Life of the American Teenager’s Grant Ward—along with countless guests dressed for summer trying not to shiver in their surfwear.
The event’s beneficiary, VH1’s Save the Music Foundation, is dedicated to providing music education in US public schools in raising awareness about music’s importance in a child’s education. Let’s sing to that.
