How this fashion show empowers women in Kelowna

In their first ever in-person fundraising event, Dress for Success clients and other community personalities and partners were walking the runway.

The event, called Watch Her Soar, featured the modelling of complete style transformations, including outfits/items from Okanagan boutiques,at the KF Centre for Excellence.

Among those strutting their stuff was Jaspreet Kaur Batra, a former client, now advisor for Dress for Success, who touted the confidence boosting aspects of the evening.

“For me, I have done fashion shows during my college years, but this is in [the] professional world and it's completely different,” Batra told Kelowna10. “I think it's just like me paving my way and building up the skills for what I want to do. I want to be a public speaker, I want to be a leader, and I want to help as many people as I can.”

Dress for Success empowers women, not only by physically equipping them with apparel and accessories, but through knowledge building.

Batra got involved after she had injured herself at a previous job. Being a recent immigrant to Canada at the time, she was not aware of any programs that could help.

But after a little bit of searching, she came across the foundation, and was immediately sold on it.

“I think it's really important because not only [does] it provide personal and professional development, it is a place where women can come and be with similar like-minded women,” she said. “Everyone is so kind and generous, it’s like a community, it’s a sisterhood.”

As the night lingered on, more outfits graced the runway and were met with eager bidding, with all proceeds going on to fund further endeavors for the foundation.

More about the Dress for Success program can be found here.