Walk the Walk started a couple of decades ago when just 13 women power walked the New York City Marathon in their bras to raise money and awareness for breast cancer. As the years passed it became UK's largest grant making breast cancer charity.
Wearing an extravagantly decorated bra at the Walk The Walk challenges to raise not just money, but awareness has become the charity's unique trademark and quite often celebrities and artists get together, sponsor a bra and decorate it.
When Scottish artist Frank Boyle mentioned me he was working on a bra sponsored (and signed) by The Proclaimers for the Edinburgh challenge (on tomorrow) and asked me if I wanted to get involved, we started brainstorming a bit about it.
We wanted to follow this year's circus theme, but also merge it with our passions - art, architecture and Scottish music - bearing in mind the aims and objectives of Walk The Walk, paying a tribute to The Proclaimers and making sure we could spread some optimism through it and empower all those people who may be going through some hard times because of cancer. So, rather than going for a bra, we decided opt for a full costume that comprises the bra, a cape and a headband.
The bra is covered in a waterproof tyvek map of Edinburgh (our interest in architecture prevailed here...). The figures walking over it represent the people joining Walk The Walk, running, walking and cheering.
The bra integrates a system of speakers and an Mp3 player that can be easily activated it (not shown here as YouTube banned the bra video for copyright infringement reasons...).
Once you press the PLAY button on the Mp3 player located around the centre of the bra "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)" by The Proclaimers starts playing on a loop.
The song was an obvious choice because it boosts your morale, it makes you want to run, walk, jump in the air and go to great lengths for the person you love the most, so it seemed perfect.
The cape is extravagantly decorated, it is inspired by the costume of acrobats and it is a bit over the top and Fellini-esque; it is glam and a bit camp (the main theme at this year's Costume Institute exhibition at New York's Met Museum, so it's a trend) and, being covered in rhinestones, those who wear it will definitely be noticed (why hiding yourself? You're beautiful, so shine!).
The cape is also functional since on the back there is another waterproof map of Edinburgh that can be detached. You can use it if you get lost or to cover up in case of rain. The cape is also a statement, it is purposefully over the top and it is designed to empower those who wear it.
The headband is a fashion accessory, a take on Prada's S/S 19 thick headbands (you will easily spot them in Italy at the moment, they are all over the place...). You can wear it like an ordinary headband with the two figurines representing The Proclaimers acting as antennas broadcasting a signal, or you can wear the headband in Prada's style, pulled a bit forward as if it were a tiara so that people will read the message on the headband that says "Walk The Walk".
The full costume is a sort of superhero attire, because we do believe that people going through cancer have super human powers. They are superheroes, in much the same way as everybody else supporting them - partners, family, friends and health care staff - is a super hero.
The costume is also a way to remember those ones we lost to cancer, but will always be in our hearts. They will walk with us, their courage will make us stronger and their memories will not fade. The final message of this costume is Be Brave, Be Strong, Be Optimistic, Enjoy Life and, well, Enjoy Walk The Walk!
The Proclaimers' Craig and Charlie Reid seemed to like our idea: on a post on their site they indeed stated, "Never in our wildest dreams could we have imagined that 'I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)' would be played through a bra to raise awareness of breast cancer! This bra is incredible and really depicts ourselves, Scotland and Walk the Walk. We send our very best wishes and support to the wonderful walkers and volunteers who take part in this amazing event The MoonWalk Scotland."
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