World AIDS Awareness with Ninette Murk of DAA

2011 has been a busy year for Designers Against Aids and founder Ninette Murk. The organization that began over a decade ago by collaborating with some of the fashion world’s biggest names, including Marc Jacobs, Heather Huey, and Dita von Teese, has found great success in educating young adults about the truths behind AIDS. Ninette Murk and DAA have succesfully gotten the word out that education is the biggest asset in preventing STIs and helping to stop teen pregnancies.

Through the sale of merchandise on the official Designers Against Aids website and the launch of their new International HIV/AIDS Awareness Education Center in 2011, DAA has continued to champion the cause. Students came together this summer to create campaigns to help spread awareness by creating digital stories to help improve the sale of condoms in fashion shops in Antwerp, Belgium, the first time this has ever been done.

But what makes an organization go above and beyond simply being a charitable organization? How can fashion really impact education? DAA has done both by using celebrity collaborations to raise awareness about the dangers of unsafe sex and the very real consequences of contracting HIV/AIDS as well as other STIs.

Most recently, Designers Against Aids was awarded a coveted grant from the MAC AIDS Fund for the DAA Education Center in Antwerp. In honor of World’s Aids Day on December 1, we chatted with Designers Against Aids’ CEO Ninette Murk about fashion, the message of safe sex, and some of her favorite collaborations of 2011.

THE DEADBOLT: Have you noticed a shift in the mentality of the youth you’ve worked with this year in regard to the message of safe sex?

NINETTE MURK: Not really – most teenagers still feel they’re invincible and that HIV has got nothing to do with them or their peers.

THE DEADBOLT: Can you talk a little about the projects you and your team of students embarked upon this year?

MURK: With the first group we made a safe sex video (IHAEC) that we plan to get shown on as many channels as possible for WAD. The second group helped with the launch of our new DAA by JBC collection (now in stores; JBC is a Belgian fashion chain)- as two our of the three students are fashion designers, they also customized pieces from the collection that were auctioned on ebay.

THE DEADBOLT: What’s the most important thing you’ve learned from these students in their approach to feeling comfortable talking about safe sex?

MURK: That you need to speak in one-on-one situations, without others present. That’s why working via the internet is so interesting.

THE DEADBOLT: Which celebrity collaborations for DAA were your favorite of this year?

MURK: We’re launching a series of t-shirts on WAD (also for JBC) designed by Belgian celebs. Last spring the 4th edition of Fashion against AIDS was launched with celebs such as Keri Hilson, Akon and more. I like both collaborationss equally- the aim is to reach as many young people as possible and both achieved that in their own way.

THE DEADBOLT: Who would you like to collaborate with in 2012?

MURK: That would be telling, wouldn’t it? Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, the cast of Glee, Tokio Hotel again – their fans are amazingly supportive – or some sports heroes.

THE DEADBOLT: Can you give a sneak peek into the new education center opening in Los Anegels in 2012?

MURK: This won’t be happening in 2012 but 2013. The most important difference is that this center will work with the concept of using pure beauty to make the world a better place. Not only focusing on HIV prevention but on healthy living and thinking in general: physically, mentally and spiritually. This way we hope to reach many more people and we still get to talk a lot about safe sex.