What started as a modest idea to auction a dress worn only once for an Aperol Spritz summer campaign video ended in a successful charitable auction party at San Anton Palace attended by over 200 guests on Friday 26th August.

The idea was the brainchild of Claudia Attard, Brand Executive for Aperol Spritz at Farsons Beverage Imports Company Limited, who commissioned Maltese designer Jay Curmi to create a dress for the special Aperol Spritz campaign featuring Valentina Rossi and her radio dj team Nate and Frank (Nate, Frank & Rossi - VibeFM).

Once the campaign was finalised, Ms Attard felt that it was a great shame for this designer dress to not be worn ever again. This led to the idea of selling the dress through an auction and donating the money to Malta Community Chest Fund.

To help materialize her idea and achieve the best result possible, Ms Attard contacted Noelene Miggiani and Yvonne Desira Buttigieg, the team behind Fashion For a Cause, to pursue the idea.

The idea of auctioning the dress was blown into an ambitious auction of unique Maltese designer items, one-of-a-kind articles not available for purchase, thus making them one-off pieces.

Items on auction were:

THE ORANGE DRESS
Created by Jay Curmi, the dress carried the orange colour symbolizing the Aperol Spritz colour.  Jay's vision was to keep the structure of the dress simple to give space for the colour and volume of the dress to dominate the design making it a cool modern dress with an orange twist.  Sold by auction at €350.

C&R ORANGE BAG
The famous 'Chloe Bag 22', was also used by Valentina Rossi during the Aperol Spritz campaign trip to Venice.  The design duo created a hand-painted addition to the bag making it unique and a rare find.  Sold by auction at €851.

PARASCANDALO ORANGE LINED COAT
The Parascandalo unisex coat was made of re-worked denim and finished with an orange lining, making it unique, and one-of-a-kind... perfectly attuned with this auction's orange colour. Sold by auction at €320.

YANA'S JEWELLERY in ORANGE HUES
A piece inspired by sunset hues representing a summer night out perfectly capturing the deep colours of Aperol Spritz. Sold by auction at €1,500

The total amount raised from the auctioned articles was €3,021. The amount raised in total through donations and auction, from over 200 guests reached €5,361.

The reaction from Mrs Miriam Vella, the First Lady, was the most satisfying reward. Mrs Vella embraced the idea from the first meeting and thanked all those who attended and donated for making this auction a true success towards the Malta Community Chest Fund.

Claudia, Noelene and Yvonne were overwhelmed by the response and success of this unique distinctive auction… a first of its kind.

Aperol is marketed and distributed by Farsons Beverage Imports Company (FBIC) Limited.