On Thursday, February 11, Michael Stars teamed up with The Buzz Girls, a network of stylish, professional women in entertainment and lifestyle industries to host the launch event for our limited-edition Joyful Heart tee benefiting Mariska Hargitay’s Joyful Heart Foundation at our Santa Monica boutique. True Blood costars Ashley Jones and Mariana Klaveno joined New York Times best-selling author Andrea Buchanan and more than 60 women to support Mariska’s efforts in providing healing to survivors of sexual assault, domestic violence and child abuse. 20-percent of event proceeds were donated to the Joyful Heart Foundation along with 80 tees on behalf of event attendees to women in one of Joyful Heart’s healing programs.

On Sunday, February 21, Michael Stars teamed up with Audi and Best Buddies International for the 2010 ‘Bowling For Buddies’ benefit at Lucky Strike in downtown Los Angeles. Celebrities such as Cindy Crawford, Rob Lowe, Lisa Rinna, Nancy O’Dell and Shenae Grimes bowled with the buddies and their families to raise awareness for Best Buddies new campaign – Spread the Word to End the Word, an ongoing effort in partnership with the Special Olympics, that aims to engage schools, organizations and communities by raising the consciousness of society about the dehumanizing and hurtful effects of the word “retard(ed)” and encouraging everyone to stop using the R-word.

On Friday, November 6, Michael Stars hosted an exclusive in-store shopping event at Michael Stars in Manhattan Beach to benefit Clothes the Deal, a non-profit organization that positively impacts Los Angeles by assisting low-income individuals to obtain economic independence and self-sufficiency.

More than 55 guests stopped by the two hour event to shop the Holiday collection while indulging in wine, hors d’oeuvres and mini cupcakes. 10-percent of event proceeds were donated to Clothes the Deal along with 55 tees, one tee per person in attendance. Clothes the Deal will use the donated tees to dress women who are trying to make a new start and transition back into the workplace.

Michael Stars is a proud supporter of Step Up Women’s Network, a national non-profit membership organization dedicated to strengthening community resources for women and girls. We have teamed up with Step Up and hosted two social networking events at two of our Southern California retail stores.

When: Thursday, January 22, 2009
Where: Michael Stars – Santa Monica
What: More than 85 Step Up supporters stopped by to check out the Holiday/Resort collection and be the first to take advantage of the much anticipated end-of-Season sale. During the two-hour event, guests sipped on champagne and indulged in tray passed hors d'oeuvres and chocolate dipped strawberries while shopping and socializing with other members.

On Thursday, October 1, Michael Stars teamed up with Marin Magazine and The Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF) to host “The Pink Party”, an exclusive in-store event in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness month at Michael Stars located at The Village of Corte Madera. More than 70 people stopped by the event, taking place from 6-8pm, to check out the limited edition Breast Cancer Charity Tee collection and to show their support for the fight against breast cancer.

During the two-hour event, guests sipped on pink champagne and indulged in tray passed hors d'oeuvres and sweet treats while shopping and socializing with other one another. The first 50 guests also received a fabulous swag bag filled with goodies from Alterna Hair Care, Hollywood Fashion Tape, EOS lip balm, HER Energy Drink and more. Twenty percent of proceeds were donated to the BCRF.

On Saturday, August 1, stylish celebrities such as Rachel Zoe, Christy Turlington and Mariska Hargitay escaped the city heat and hit the Hamptons for an afternoon of guilt-free, shopping at Super Saturday 12, a designer garage sale hosted by Kelly Ripa and Blake Lively, in which 100% of proceeds benefitted the Ovarian Cancer Research Foundation (OCRF).

Michael Stars was among top designers, including Donna Karan, Theory, Tory Burch, Louis Vuitton, Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein and more, selling designer duds at discounted costs. The fun-filled, family-oriented fundraiser, which celebrated its twelfth year, was attended by more than 1,500 eager shoppers and by day's end over $3.6 million was raised for the OCRF.

On Saturday, November 7, Michael Stars joined actresses Mariska Hargitay and Debra Messing along with the Joyful Heart Foundation to raise awareness about the need for domestic violence support services throughout California by building healing and wellness kits for women in crisis shelters. Michael Stars donated one tee per kit and enough kits were created to give one to each of the estimated 600 women currently being served in one of Los Angeles County’s domestic violence shelters.

Facing one of the worst state budget crisis in history, California’s domestic violence services budget has been drastically cut, forcing many shelters to turn away or cut services to families in need. The Joyful Heart Foundation is dedicated to shining a light on this issue and to send a message of compassion, encouragement and hope to survivors of domestic violence.

Michael Stars will be joining this cause and honored to partner with Mariska and the Joyful Heart Foundation to create a charity tee this Spring to help raise awareness and support for these women and families in need. Check back for more details!

On Sunday, June 7, Michael Stars participated in the 20th Annual “A Time for Heroes” celebrity picnic hosted by the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation at the Wadsworth Theater Grounds in Brentwood. During the four hour event, more than 1200 people gathered, including celebrities Heidi Klum, Sharon Stone, Mark Wahlberg, Denise Richards, Nick Lachey, Lauren Conrad and more, to show their support for the fight against pediatric HIV/AIDS.

Michael Stars was the event’s official tee sponsor and partnered with Fresh Pressed Screen Shop to offer onsite tee shirt customization. Throughout the afternoon, a handful of celebrities stopped to help work the Michael Stars activity station. Ashley Simpson, Pete Wentz and Rumer Willis opted to help guest screen print their tees while Cheryl Hines, Lisa Rinna, Jamie Pressly, Melissa Joan Hart, assisted children in decorating their tees with special fabric crayons.

Additional celebrities including Stephanie Pratt, Melissa Rivers and Jillian Barbarie stopped by Michael Stars to customize their very own tee before heading to the main stage for a special performance by Disney superstar Miley Cyrus who closed the start studded event.