Around Town — Revive Your Style busts all records

It was the perfect Sunday afternoon to binge on beauty and bask in fashion as close to 200 women came together for Erica Wark‘s Revive Your Style cancer benefit.

The fourth annual event was the biggest and best yet. It raised $18,000, almost as much as its last three years combined. There were prizes galore to give away and shopping sprees, private spa parties and weekend getaways to sell off.

The fundraiser was organized by Wark, a style expert and rising star on Canada’s fashion scene. To boot, she’s so likeable; who doesn’t want to be her new BFF?

The proceeds go to the Ottawa Regional Cancer Foundation’s one-day Bust a Move fitness fundraiser for breast health, happening March 28 at the Ottawa Athletic Club (OAC) on Lancaster Road.

Wark, who’s part of the Bust a Move leadership committee, created her fashion and beauty benefit to lift ladies out of any post-New Year freezing-cold funk.

“It’s all about confidence boosting, bringing up morale and inspiring women to step out of their comfort zones and try something new in body, mind and spirit,” Wark told Around Town. Revive Your Style takes place in just three hours, she added, “because I know how busy women are.”

Seen in action were: Fiorella Di Nardo and her team from Rinaldo hair salon dishing out tips and tricks, makeup artist Melody Iafelice leading a beauty seminar with Maybelline products, Minerva Spa helping everyone to feel so goood, and Wark’s fashion show of clothing that’s easy to wear and easy on the wallet.

Attendees included community-minded women Krista Kealey, chair of Bust a Move, and Melissa Shabinsky, who’s also on the leadership committee. Pro dancer and former TV host TL Rader was MC.

The crowd not only took home fabulous product-filled swag bags but a stirring story, told with such candour and ease by Ottawa mother, wife, businesswoman and cancer survivor Alison Hughes of AMH Style on Wellington Street West.

Hughes was only 37 with two kids under four when she learned she had Stage 3 Breast Cancer and would have to undergo chemotherapy, surgery and radiation. She began her difficult journey with steadfast resolve to carry on as though all was well but, over time, the chemo “kicked my ass” and she fell to an all-time low.

“Not only was I physically crushed, my spirit was broken, too,” she told the room. “I cried a lot. I wondered what I had done to deserve this.”

The support and unconditional love from her family, combined with the help of medical health professionals and her group therapy and one-on-one sessions, pulled her through. “I was a blotchy-faced, bald-headed, single-boobed mess. I was ready to accept help.”

Hughes talked about how she’s changed since the cancer, not only physically but also “on the inside” by being more open and receptive to others. “I’ve learned it’s okay to take care of myself because if I’m not healthy I can’t be there for the people who need me,” said Hughes. “I have re-prioritized and I have learned to minimize stress, although a little bit is still a really good way to get me to get things done.”

Hughes is back to a state of wellness. Her morning coffee tastes like coffee again. Her eyebrows and lashes have returned to her lovely face. She can walk up and down the stairs with ease once more. “I have a long life ahead of me,” she said. “I have kids to raise, businesses to run and many more adventures to be had.

“In the book of my life, breast cancer is just a chapter; it’s not my whole story.”

It’s a chapter that ended Sunday with a standing ovation of cheers.

carolyn001@sympatico.ca