Four inspirational women will share their personal experiences of breast cancer and how it has impacted their identity as they model the collection which, consisting of three T-shirts and a pair of jeans, is available exclusively online and in-store from 6 May, with 30% of the purchase price for each item being donated to charity Breast Cancer Now.
In the year that marks the 25th anniversary of Fashion Targets Breast Cancer, support for people affected by breast cancer has never been more needed due to the devastating impact of COVID-19.
The pandemic has significantly impacted Breast Cancer Now and the charity urgently needs support so that it can continue to be there for people affected by breast cancer today - and conduct world-class research that brings hope for the future.
Putting four women affected by breast cancer centre stage, through a stylish photoshoot created with leading fashion photographer Rosaline Shahnavaz via FaceTime, this year’s campaign highlights how breast cancer can impact a woman’s sense of identity.
And how, for some, this extends to how they approach clothing and fashion.
After the shock of diagnosis and the huge toll treatment takes, breast cancer can strip back a woman’s identity and leave her unable to recognise who she is, knocking her confidence.
The changes that treatment causes the body can mean that clothing that used to feel right might feel anything but.
For some women with the disease, fashion may help them discover a new style that fits with those changes.
Nina, 39, from Croydon, said:
“Watching yourself change every day, I was fading away from the person I was. Every time I lost more hair and more weight I was losing the old me. I didn’t feel like a woman; I didn’t feel attractive.”
Nisha, 32, from Peterborough said:
“I would go to treatment wearing a bright orange lipstick or a pink kimono. I wanted to go in feeling like myself. I needed that strength through my make-up and what I wore.”
Fran, 26, from London said:
“When I started to experience physical changes from my treatment like weight gain, I couldn’t help but feel insecure.
"But I knew that this was out of my control and that I couldn’t do anything to change it.
"It started to affect the things I wanted to wear, I was no longer seeing me in the mirror.
"When you lose your hair and your eyebrows, you look different and those changes definitely had a negative effect on my body confidence.”
Sacha, 25, from Hampshire said:
“My relationship with clothes has changed. The clothes that I used to wear don’t look the same on me anymore.
"I have to find a new me and that includes a new style.”
Baroness Delyth Morgan, Chief Executive at Breast Cancer Now, said:
“The devastating impact of the pandemic means people with breast cancer need our support more than ever.
"Yet COVID-19 has also been a hugely challenging time for the charity, putting much of our work on pause – from our face-to-face support services to our researchers losing over 230,000 hours in the lab during the first wave.
“As such, I’m so grateful to Nisha, Fran, Sacha and Nina for sharing their experiences of breast cancer and how it affected their body image in our campaign.
"They are opening up conversations around how a diagnosis can impact women and helping us to raise vital funds, so we can continue to be there for people affected by breast cancer.
“By purchasing an item from River Island’s Fashion Targets Breast Cancer collection, you’ll be ‘wearing something important’ that not only looks stylish, but helps ensure that the 600,000 women living with, through and beyond a breast cancer diagnosis in the UK get the support they need.
“Huge thanks to all River Island staff and customers for their unwavering support for this campaign over the past 25 years. And for continuing to partner with us in calling on women to make a real difference by ‘wearing something important’ this Spring.”
Wear something important this spring and support Fashion Targets Breast Cancer in aid of Breast Cancer Now by purchasing the collection from River Island online or in-store from 6 May 2021.
ENDS
Notes to editor
About Fashion Targets Breast Cancer
- Ralph Lauren founded Fashion Targets Breast Cancer in 1994, along with the Council of Fashion Designers of America after he lost a close friend to the disease, with the sole aim of galvanising the world of fashion as a force against breast cancer.
- The campaign launched in the UK in 1996.
- With two decades of strength, style and solidarity behind it, the campaign has made incredible progress, raising over £16.1 million to fund Breast Cancer Now’s pioneering breast cancer research and care.
- Over the years the campaign has seen the support of some of the biggest names in fashion, including Naomi Campbell, Kate Moss, Claudia Schiffer, Elle Macpherson, Erin O’Connor and Kylie Minogue. Celebrated photographers including Mario Testino, Simon Emmet, David Bailey and Ellen Von Unwerth have also lent their creative vision to the campaign’s striking look.
- Fashion Targets Breast Cancer put women affected by breast cancer at the heart of the campaign with women living with and beyond breast cancer modelling the collection.
About Breast Cancer Now
- Breast Cancer Now is the UK’s first comprehensive breast cancer charity, combining world-class research and life-changing care.
- Breast Cancer Now’s ambition is that, by 2050, everyone who develops breast cancer will live and be supported to live well.
- Breast Cancer Now, the research and care charity, launched in October 2019, created by the merger of specialist support and information charity Breast Cancer Care and leading research charity Breast Cancer Now.
- Visit breastcancernow.org or follow us on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram.
- Anyone looking for support or information can call Breast Cancer Now’s free Helpline on 0808 800 6000.