Donor frocks help Hong Kong helpers look the part on red carpet for premiere of documentary about their lives
After snub from corporate sponsors, style consultant Sheryl Bolden appealed for donation of dresses so the domestic helpers who appear in documentary The Helper looked the part on red carpet at film’s premiere
Sparkling wine, plates of muffins and a rack of party dresses – it was a special treat for 22 of the 30 women who star in the upcoming documentary The Helper, which chronicles the stories of foreign domestic helpers in Hong Kong.
The feature-length documentary explores the difficult working conditions faced by the women, the heartbreaking separation from loved ones and the immense contribution they make to society. With the support of the European Union Office to Hong Kong and Macau, and investment bank Goldman Sachs, the film will premiere at the Asia Society in Admiralty on Sunday at a red-carpet charity fundraising event.
The 30 domestic helpers who feature in the documentary will attend the premiere. But a red-carpet event calls for a posh frock, and for many of the women this posed a problem.
“When we were putting together this event we were super-conscious of the dress code. It seems like a black tie event, but what were the ladies going to wear? We didn’t want to put on them the burden of needing to buy a dress,” says Joanna Bowers, the film’s director.
Bowers reached out for sponsorship to dress the women, but when the companies realised who they would be dressing, they declined. She mentioned the problem to her friend and neighbour Sheryl Bolden, founder of the wardrobe editing and style consultancy Make My Wardrobe Work.
