Ridgefield’s seventh annual Multicultural Festival is set to celebrate diverse cultures, with this year’s theme centering around “Food & Fashion.” Among the highlights will be the contributions of Ruby Lewis, an influential fashion designer and chairwoman of Please Don’t Die Black Men (PDDBM).
PDDBM inspires and empowers people of color through contributions including community events and specialized programs. The organization provides a platform for aspiring journalists through its publication, PROUD magazine, and offers a STEM scholarship program and film classes. In addition, Lewis leads PDDBM’s Fashion Design Program, which helps youth develop their skills in the fashion industry. She explains that the organization’s name reflects its mission to inspire life and resilience among people of color.
“It started out as we were inspiring males, and I wanted people to understand that African American males don’t die just physically,” Lewis said. “They die emotionally … they die spiritually, and they also die mentally, mental health (issues) in America for African Americans is extremely huge, so that’s why I started that.”
Lewis, who has been involved in the fashion industry for years, relocated to Vancouver in 2014 and has since made significant contributions to the community, including designing 2020 census shirts for the NAACP. She founded PDDBM and started designing fashion in 2007, motivated by a desire to create something that would encourage people of color.
“There wasn’t enough empowerment and inspiration for African Americans. I wanted to create something [that] uplifted, inspired [them] … That’s when I started trying to use clothing to market that organization,” Lewis explained.
As a co-coordinator for this year’s Ridgefield Multicultural Festival, Lewis will curate one of three fashion shows. She plans to select ten models to wear and showcase her clothing designs.
Lewis’ models will don outfits that bring awareness to critical social issues, including domestic violence — a cause close to Lewis, who, like millions of women, is a survivor. In keeping with the festival’s theme, some designs will feature elements representing the food Africans brought with them during the transatlantic slave trade. Additionally, Lewis will present everyday wear in black, red and green colors, symbolizing empowerment and upliftment for people of color. She noted creating meaningful designs can be a complex and time-consuming process.
“[The] challenging part is that I create these designs that are not like anything anybody else has created, and it’s also about mental knowledge [and] creativity,” Lewis said. “And so I’m creating this stuff in Photoshop — What do I want the outfit to look like? What do I want them to convey? What do I want them to inspire? And sometimes it takes a very long time on the computer to do that. And then I have my designs printed, and then they are shipped to me, and I put them on models.”
For those interested in participating as models, Lewis encourages them to arrive at the PDDBM tent before 8 a.m. on Sept. 7 at Overlook Park, an hour before the fashion show is set to begin. She emphasizes that turnout and representation are crucial in making a positive impact.
“I’ve been on social media trying to market this event. I noticed there’s a lot of people of color who are like, ‘Well, Ridgefield’s not very black, it’s not very Spanish, it’s not very anything other than white,’ and [that] people of color shouldn’t show up … [but] if we’re going to change things, we have to make sure that we are involved…. and I would encourage any person of color to come out and support the people of color who are a part of this event,” Lewis said.
Readers interested in learning more about PDDBM can visit their website at pddbm.org. For more details on the Ridgefield Multicultural Festival, which will take place at 8 a.m. on Sept. 7 at Overlook Park, visit ridgefieldwa.us/353/Septem ber-First-Saturday.
