Hopscotch Hustle: The Fashion Show for Moms on the Go

by Andrea Mérida, Denver Fashion Beat Editor
When Shana Draugelis talks about fashion, you can see her face light up and her voice and hands become animated just talking about all the fantastic looks out there for a young woman of 33. She’s got it all: a great education and skill set, a fantastic husband, and a lovely child. But this is the part in which her face falls, because you just can’t dress cute when you have a toddler.

Draugelis and son Raines

The feminist movement has created so many different possibilities for women. You can be a glass ceiling shatterer and rack up corporate bonuses. You can follow your muse and rhapsodize in poetry or art or music. You can be the world’s most selfless philanthropist. Or, you can choose motherhood in a myriad of combinations, as a stay-at-home (SAH) mom, a part-time mom or even a working mom.

Regardless of your choices, being fashionable can sometimes be met with obstacles when one is a mother. “Heels and jewelry are just not practical anymore, ” laments Draugelis. “It’s a real challenge to look fashionable.” After her son, Raines was born, she found things like low-waisted jeans completely out of the question, because they just didn’t offer modesty when bending over to pick up her toddler. It’s enough to make any mother want to crawl into the nearest pair of high-waisted mom jeans.

“A woman’s body changes so drastically throughout her pregnancy, immediately after the birth and for a while beyond that,” says Draugelis. Being surrounded by other socially-conscious m0ms like herself brought their values front and center when reflecting on the near-constant closet clean-out that moms go through. The group began to wonder what is was like to not be able to afford a change of clothing to accommodate the wildly varying shape of a woman’s body from pregnancy and beyond. Further, they worried about buying local and how that affects the environment, as well as the viability of local economies, and what the world they leave behind for their children will look like.

Urban Baby Denver at the zoo

Banded together as Urban Baby Denver, member Kerri Butler (coincidentally the owner of A Touch of Bliss Events) decided to take matters into her own hands. As an all-inclusive group of 150 moms (and dads!), Butler, Draugelis and the rest of the Urban Baby gang decided to plan a fashion show right here in Denver for fashionable moms on the go called “Hopscotch Hustle.” The show will feature selections from Denver’s best mom-centric local boutiques, including Violet, Becoming Mother, Blush and Wondertots. The proceeds of the event go to benefit WeeCycle Colorado, a Denver-based nonprofit organization that collects and gives gently used baby gear to low-income families. Not coincidentally, the founders of WeeCycle Colorado are also members of Urban Baby Denver.

Hopscotch Hustle will be held on Sunday, April 5, 2009, from 2:00 – 5:00 p.m., at the Curtis Hotel in Downtown Denver. Tickets are $15 general admission, $35 for premium seating.

For more information about the event, or to purchase tickets, visit the Wee Cycle website at http://www.weecyclecolorado.org/Hopscotch_Hustle.html. To learn how to join the Urban Baby Denver playgroup, click here.

DID YOU KNOW:

Colorado has the fastest growing rate of children living in poverty in the country. The Colorado Children’s Campaign found that since 2000, the number of children living in poverty in the state increased by more than 70%. Poverty, especially childhood poverty, affects all aspects of Denver’s community, including the job market, social services, family structure, educational attainment, crime, and health. WeeCycle’s hope is that by giving baby gear to families in need, they can help ease some of these hardships while providing infants and toddlers with the gear and toys essential to their healthy growth and development.

WHO WEECYCLE SERVES:

WeeCycle’s current community partners are Women In Crisis, Family Star, House of Hope, Center for Work Education and Employment, and Family Tree Housing and Family Services. WeeCycle is honored to support the important work these organizations are doing in the Denver metro community. As WeeCycle’s funding and inventory increases, so will the number of children and families served.

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