Natalia Vodianova’s Naked Heart partners with LuisaViaRoma

By

Godfrey Deeny

Published
Jan 9, 2019

The Naked Heart Foundation, the children’s playground and school project of Russian supermodel Natalia Vodianova, announced a new partnership with LuisaViaRoma at Pitti on Wednesday.

 
Vodianova also revealed that Naked Hearts will stage its next charity Fabulous Fund Fair together on Jan. 18 in the iconic rock venue, The Roundhouse, during the next London Fashion Week.
 
“It’s a source of never ending reward,” said Vodianova, who founded Naked Heart in 2004, at a press conference in LuisaViaRoma, Florence’s most famous fashion and luxury boutique.

The mum of five spoke movingly of her own personal experience. Her younger sister Oxana, born when Natalia was six, is autistic and has cerebral palsy.
 
“Honestly, we were the subject of much mocking in our small community. And, just to find somewhere where she could play, and be a child was not easy. So creating Naked Heart was something very close to me,” said Vodianova, whose partner is LVMH luxury heir Antoine Arnault.
 
Naked Heart has gone on to build some 200 playgrounds in Russia and beyond, including three parks in the UK, open to children of all backgrounds and disabilities. In recent years, it has staged highly media-friendly Fabulous Fund Fairs in London, attracting major celebrities and designers. A key element in the Naked Heart’s ability to have raised some $40 million in its history. Part of which has also gone to creating some 12 schools in three Russian cities for children who were previously “uneducable.”
 
LuisaViaRoma has been an active support of several foundations including UNICEF, staging a huge gala summer concert in Sardinia last year. 
 
“And the theme of our Fund Fair will be… La Dolce Vita. Tickets go online tomorrow morning,” announced CEO and owner of LuisaViaRoma Andrea Panconesi.