Zelda Kaplan: Infinite Youth

Fashion designers work and toil for what is literally one of the most popular events of the year – Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in New York. The hype surrounding this year’s Fashion Week began the same way that   it always does. There are  preparations taking place at the venue, for the models, and the designers and clothes. The fashion blogs were a major buzz with this season’s hottest trends and talent, until tragedy struck fashion’s biggest party.

Zelda Kaplan collapsed as Joanna Mastroianni‘s looks went down the runway on Feb. 15, 2012. She was pronounced dead at St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital Center. The 95 year-old matriarch of fashion went out surrounded by what she loved.

“I love Fashion Week, I dowish more people would have [clothes] made for them. But so many Americans want to look like everybody else. Why is that? I hate to wear what everybody else is wearing,” the designer said with the New York Post. Kaplan was born in Trenton, New Jersey in 1916. She attended Dana College Law School (which is now Rutgers University). In 1963, the designer moved out of her parents’ house to New York after surviving two divorces. In New York, Kaplan was immediately struck by performing arts. She worked at an art gallery, which really peaked her interests in art. She studied ballroom dancing, international style and Cuban styles of dance.

As a designer, Kaplan inspired those around her. In a statement posted to Mastroianni’s website the day of Kaplan’s passing, the designer said that “such an icon of the fashion community” would be greatly missed. “I truly admired for her individuality and incredible spirit. She had such a love of life and believed in living everyday to its fullest,” Mastroianni said. Kaplan was most known for wearing African-inspired patterns and clothes, and her love for over-sized sunglasses and hats.

She was also known for her volunteering efforts in West Africa. Kaplan took her first trip to West Africa in the 1970′s. In 1983, she made a trip to Ethiopia, where she learned about the rituals of Female Genital Mutilation. Upon her return to New York, she began studying the effects of FGM. She later returned to Ethiopia to spread awareness about FGM and how it can make women infertile and incredibly sick later in life.

“During my first visit to Ethiopia, I met a very important Ethiopian woman in the village who owns all sorts of businesses and we talked about FGM. During my second visit, I stayed with her a few days and talked about many things. As I was getting ready to leave the village in a Toyota Land Cruiser vehicle, she knocked on the car window and said, ‘My three little grandchildren, I’m not going to have them cut’. I was so overcome I started to cry,” Kaplan said in an interview with AVIVA Press.

Though the designer saw how much damage can be done to women, her goal was to spread awareness so people could make their own decisions. “I never tell people what they are doing is wrong. I show them 100% respect,” said Kaplan with AVIVA Press. From partying at art galleries and clubs to spreading awareness about?? and volunteering in Africa, Kaplan showed more energy and youth than any 20-something with a lifetime supply of Red Bull. She used her energy for good and fun which inspired almost everyone around her. The designer was well known to surround herself with young friends.

“My friends are all very lovely young people. They are well educated. They have manners. And when I’m around they don’t use the f-word,” Kaplan said in a PRX interview. In an interview with Syle Like U, a fashion lifestyle website, Kaplan left us all with a bit of reassurance:

“So many young people are so afraid of becoming old. I’d like them to know that from someone who is ninety-four years young, it is fun to be old!”

-Geneva Toddy