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September is all about fashion, fashion, fashion. There is fashion week in New York, fashion week in London, fashion week in Milan and fashion week in Paris, each one an event that happened after the previous one, sweeping away what it seems. Everyone TikTok and Instagram feeds.
But September is also National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month, and the fashion industry is not immune to the conversation when some of the biggest designers of our time — Alexander McQueen, for example — have fallen victim to suicide.
Designer Alexandra Nieman wants to direct it.
As the editor-in-chief Courtesya platform designed for skilled living and a designer of her own label LadycatNeiman is marrying her passion for both worlds — mental health and fashion — with the groundbreaking fashion show event, Break Free NYFW.
“One of the things that’s most profound for me is being able to help people share their stories and experiences and feel empowered,” Nieman said. out of. “Hearing the stories of others who have made it to the other side is the most impactful.”
On Saturday, September 10 (World Suicide Prevention Day), designers, activists, models, and educators gathered on Manhattan’s Lower East Side to break the stigma of mental health and open a conversation about suicide prevention and substance use.
The show featured four designers, each with their own connection to the cause: Project runwayHelen Castillo; mental health and body positivity advocate Rene Cafaro; up-and-coming designer Ashley Alt; and Brooklyn-based designer Dynasty Casanova.
“I showed at New York Fashion Week, and a lot of the rehearsals felt very exhausting and exhilarating,” says Castillo. “It felt like the opposite at Free Break, where everyone, including the models and volunteers, was there to cheer each other on.”
Neiman was first introduced to the importance of mental health awareness when she saw her brother struggle with the issue, which was part of growing up gay in an ultra-conservative Christian household.
Before she, herself, came to know that she was bisexual, Neiman remembers that the priest’s solution to “homosexuality” was an old myth: something like, “Pray for the gay.”
“As long as you fight those desires, ‘heaven’ is still yours,” she said of her priest’s teachings. But if you act on them, the deep fire of hell will take you sadly.
While many LGBTQ+ youth find themselves in uber-religious spaces, Neiman’s brother quickly found himself in a dark place — one that led to several suicide attempts.
“He felt this indelible sense of dread,” Neiman said. “And that led to his first big attempt,” an unfortunately common way to lose support for LGBTQ+ people. (According to Save.org, LGBTQ+ people are eight times more likely to commit suicide if they lack support among family and friends.)
Luckily, Neiman’s brother found her.
“There was no service for this in our small town in Pennsylvania. That’s how I was motivated to learn about mental health.”
In addition to educating herself, Neiman also saw fashion as healing, creating a collection that helped raise funds for The Trevor Project, an LGBTQ+ youth suicide prevention organization.
“It got me thinking – what if I could do my own show using the voices of designers and models and create a scholarship program to send individuals to rehab?”
Fast forward to Saturday, and her ‘what if’ came true in her second NYFW show, this time, marking September as National Recovery Month and National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month.
As an inclusive space for both fashion lovers and those affected by mental health struggles, all proceeds from the event went to the Break Free Foundation Scholarship Fund, a non-profit organization partnering with 10,000 Beds to help those seeking recovery and substance abuse.
Niemann’s call to action for others in the industry is simple: “Walk the talk.”
“Everybody and their mum loves to support mental health in May. Then in June, we’ll see everyone make their Facebook profiles rainbow,” Neiman said. “I want to see more designers, more brands really, really care, really walk the talk.”
Related | DapperQ’s Groundbreakingly Queer NY Fashion Week Show
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