Using fashion to raise the profile of heart disease as the leading killer of women, the Red Dress Collection, created by students from the UC Davis Department of Design, has been an innovative way to spotlight this awareness campaign. Garments from the collection are now on display in the lobby of the Robert and Margrit Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts through May 1.  

Gifted fashion design students have created near 90 red dresses for the Red Dress Collection, a decade-long interdisciplinary collaboration led by Dr. Amparo C. Villablanca, the director of the UC Davis Health’s Women’s Cardiovascular Program and design faculty Adele Zhang, lecturer and JoAnn C. Stabb Design Collection curator. Red Dress is a national symbol for bringing awareness of heart disease as the leading cause of death for women. The young designers use their designs to campaign for the heart healthy lifestyle and heart disease prevention. 

Each year in February, new designs are unveiled at the UC Davis Women’s Heart Care Education and Awareness Forum, which is held in Sacramento during National Heart Month to inspire women of all ages to put their heart health first.  

Curated by Zhang, the partnership between the UC Davis Health Medical Center and Department of Design began in 2010.