Michael Kors taps Lupita Nyong’o as face of philanthropic campaign

U.S. fashion label Michael Kors is gearing up for its seventh annual Watch Hunger Stop initiative with help from Academy Award-winning actress Lupita Nyong’o.

This year’s campaign, dubbed “Food is Love,” focuses on the emotional and caring impact behind feeding children. Prior to Ms. Nyong’o, celebrities including Kate Hudson and Halle Berry have put their fame and faces behind the cause.

Fashion for a cause
Since 2013, Michael Kors’ Watch Hunger Stop initiative has funded 18 million meals for school children through the United Nations World Food Programme.

The campaign has run each October, coinciding with World Food Day on Oct. 16. Each year, Michael Kors designs limited-edition merchandise, with all profits going to the WFP’s school meals program.

This year, the campaign and designs are centered on the idea of love. Unisex T-shirts for $40 and tote bags priced at $59 feature the world “love” in large letters.

In addition to donating profits, Michael Kors will make additional contributions to the WFP in exchange for consumers’ social media posts. Those who post a photo of themselves wearing a T-shirt or tote with the hashtag #WatchHungerStop will help donate an added 100 meals.

Love is also the theme of this year’s campaign. Ms. Nyong’o stars in a video that uses heart imagery, such as a person holding grains of rice in the shape of a heart or individuals making the shape of a heart with their hands.

Michael Kors' Food is Love campaign

"I am proud to support Watch Hunger Stop because it focuses attention on solutions to the problem of hunger and encourages people to take action on an individual basis,” said Ms. Nyong’o in a statement.

Other luxury brands have sought to tackle hunger through philanthropic fashion.

French fashion house Balenciaga teamed up with the United Nations’ World Food Programme to fundraise through fashion.

The brand’s fall/winter 2018 collection included WFP-branded items, which gave back 10 percent of the sale price to the organization to aid its goal of eradicating hunger by 2030. Through this initiative, Balenciaga aimed to not only raise awareness for the cause, but also turn fashion into a force for good, taking it beyond its practical or style purposes (see story).