Susan Taber Avila, chair, UC Davis Department of Design, is using design to bring awareness to the Go Red for Women campaign created by the American Heart Association. Throughout the month of February, Avila has vibrant installations of red fashion exhibited in various health care facilities in the Bay Area.

Avila’s “Matters of Dis-Ease” Collection features 365 red dresses in a variety of shapes, styles, shades of red, sizes and ages. Each dress is presented on a red fabric wrapped hanger with a tag featuring a woman’s personal story, a proverb about health or a fact about heart disease. Additional garments in her project are created from red textile waste salvaged from the garment industry. By recycling waste there is a subtle aspect which parallels the waste from disease.

Designed by Avila, the project has been inspired by The Red Dress Collection, a project coordinated by Adele Zhang, lecturer in design and curator of the Design Collection at UC Davis. Fashion design students aided Avila on the project.

The health care facilities exhibiting “Matters of Dis-ease” collections are the UCSF Medical Center’s Mission Bay, Mount Zion and Parnassus Hospitals in San Francisco. For more information about Avila’s work in this area.

“Matters of Dis-ease” is one part of the celebration of American Heart Month and the Go for Red Movement. For more information about other activities, visit the Bay area chapter of the American Heart Association.