By Violet Li
The Inner Wheel Club of Narre Warren weaved a vintage fashion show and fundraising together on Saturday 2 March to celebrate International Women’s Day.
More than 180 women attended the celebration with many of them coming all the way from Geelong, Bairnsdale, Wendouree, and Mornington Peninsula.
They were entertained with a three-part parade: a teaser of garments from the earlier years, a main parade, and a finale showcasing wedding and evening garments.
The day ended with a raffle with gifts donated by the communities and the club raised $5800, which all went to Foodbank Victoria.
Club member and fashion show coordinator Margaret Sansom said it was a celebration of their era, in old wedding dresses and what women wore in the ’30s, ’40s, and ’50s.
“It was a bit of fun celebration of us as women, and with all the fashion,” she said.
Margaret said many women had still kept their mothers’ wedding dresses and fur jackets, so they just borrowed most of the dresses for the show.
“I know you can pay a lot of money and have a professional fashion parade to come in. But no, we did our own. We borrowed all the clothes and everything,” she said.
“You can really laugh at yourself when you get dressed up in some of the outfits.
“It was just incredible how many people still have those hidden treasures.”
Margaret said it was the club’s first big event ever since the pandemic.
“We were just so thrilled to think that we were able to get back and do something like that and have so many women come,” she said.
Inner Wheel Club of Narre Warren members are going to Manchester in the United Kingdom to celebrate 100 years of the worldwide Inner Wheel organisation in late April this year.
