Khan <\/a>is lending his talents to one of the year\u2019s leading mental health events, aiming to reimagine how design, storytelling and human connection can inspire hope and drive change.<\/p>\n\n\tAsked how he got involved in Project Healthy Minds, Khan said, \u201cI\u2019ve known Phil [Schermer, Project Healthy Minds\u2019 chief executive officer and founder] for a while. Philip is amazing and he inspires me. This whole idea of mental health, especially in the fashion industry\u2026.I\u2019ve lived my life with Studio 54, Andy Warhol, all that stuff, I\u2019ve seen so much of it,\u201d he said. He said it\u2019s important for the fashion industry to bring it to the forefront, \u201cand see how we can help.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tKhan said he and his company have been involved with this organization before on a social level. \u201cNow I\u2019m ready to take the big plunge,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\n\tFor the gala, Khan has chosen the theme \u201cBeneath the Glitter\u201d to explore the duality between outward radiance and inner reality. The theme serves as a metaphor for the human experience: complex, multifaceted and resilient, even in moments of brokenness, and reflects Project Healthy Minds\u2019 commitment to creating a world where mental health is met with openness, compassion and care. He will curate an original experience that will serve as his personal commentary on mental health.<\/p>\n
\n\tDiscussing the theme, Khan told WWD it emanates from his days working at Halston, when Studio 54 was a big part of their lives. \u201cBeneath the glitter and glam, there\u2019s always the dark side. I know so many people who are no longer with us, or the lives I\u2019ve shared with them and the stuff I saw in the nights which used to be so fun, but when the sun comes up and the reality strikes, it\u2019s different,\u201d said Khan. \u201cTo me, the theme is based on that. What you see is not what it is.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tHe said this gala expects close to 500 people. \u201cWhat I created is two different rooms. Obviously being in fashion, it has to be aesthetically pleasing. You enter into a gold area where you have your cocktails, but you have these giant disco balls which have themes on them, and there are messages that are written on them. You\u2019re actually having cocktails between these giant disco balls. Then you enter for dinner, where the festivities are, which is going to be all gold, from the flowers, not like sprinkled, it\u2019s real stuff [along with linens, chairs, rims of the chargers, flatware, floral vessels, rims of the votives, table numbers and bid paddles all in gold]\u2026It\u2019s based on Studio 54, and based on the glamorous life, and beyond the glamour, the crystal and the shine, the reality is different.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tAsked if he struggles with mental health challenges, Khan said no, but he recalled when he was a teenager and then when he was first running his own business, he struggled. He also saw his parents struggle. \u201cYou can have mental illness at different times of your life, and it can be a chemical imbalance. I\u2019ve seen my dad, who passed away two years ago, a dynamic man who had 2,000 people working for him, but when you\u2019re ill and you\u2019re in the hospital, and your kidneys are failing, it\u2019s a different life. Depression is a very big thing across ages, people, across the world,\u201d said Khan.<\/p>\n
\n\tWhat more does he think the fashion industry can do to help people with mental health challenges? <\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cWhat\u2019s important is Project Healthy Minds is there to help you. Phil and his whole team are available 24 hours a day, and we can really make a difference for you. That\u2019s what people need to know. We are there and we can help you,\u201d said Khan.<\/p>\n
\n\tKhan said he\u2019s been working on the event for the past year, and it\u2019s taken the last couple of months to make it into a reality.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cThink of all the models. When I do these shows, I have 50 to 60 girls there. Where do these girls come from? They have no education, they\u2019re living in model apartments. A lot of them have been my friends, and I\u2019ve heard horror stories of what they have to go through. We need to make sure that these girls are taken care of, and they don\u2019t get abused if they go into wrong areas,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cThe fashion industry is particularly prone to this. Think of all the pressures we have. I have to design six collections a year, I have to make sure the stores love them, I have to make sure Women\u2019s Wear Daily loves them. It\u2019s lots of pressure. Even the models. Can you imagine when they come for casting, I see 300 and I have to choose 50. How are the 250 girls feeling?\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tHe said he has friends coming to the gala from different industries, from fashion to medicine.<\/p>\n
\n\tAsked whether he thinks the fashion industry is more susceptible than others, Khan replied, \u201cI think fashion more so because it\u2019s so much about vanity, and our business is beauty. If you\u2019re not accepted\u2026 I remember when I worked for Halston, I used to feel, \u2018Am I accepted or not? Will I be invited to that fancy dinner or not? What do they think of me?\u2019 In fashion, we go through this. We live this life. Everything is based on beauty and how you feel and how you look. It\u2019s not a great thing, but that\u2019s what our industry is based on.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tSchermer said, \u201cNaeem Khan is creating something that captures the heart of what Project Healthy Minds\u2019 World Mental Health Day Gala is all about. Mental health is so often about the space between what we show the world and what we carry privately. As our artistic curator, Naeem is transforming Spring Studios into a powerful and immersive experience that celebrates joy and creativity while making room for the realities that can exist beneath the surface. He is showing us that beauty, self-expression and honest conversation can coexist, and that when we come together with greater awareness, compassion and access, we can help make sure no one\u2019s light gets lost. We\u2019re incredibly excited to see Naeem bring this vision to life and to welcome our guests into an experience that is as meaningful as it is beautiful.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tKhan, who was born and raised in Mumbai, left India at 19 years old to pursue his passion. He launched his career as an apprentice for Halston at the age of 20. Khan began his eponymous collection in 2003, selling Bergdorf Goodman, Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue. In 2008, he was inducted into the Council of Fashion Designers of America and launched the Naeem Khan Bridal collection in 2013. Today, the Naeem Khan ready-to-wear and bridal collections are sold at more than 225 high-end stores around the world.<\/p>\n
\n\tProject Healthy Minds is one of the nation\u2019s most innovative mental health tech nonprofits, built around a simple but transformative idea: finding mental health support should be as easy to access as booking a flight or making a dinner reservation. Today, its free digital marketplace has helped more than half a million Americans connect with trusted therapists, crisis resources, support groups and other mental health services.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe gala event will be hosted by Carson Daly, co-anchor of \u201cToday,\u201d host and producer of NBC\u2019s \u201cThe Voice,\u201d and Project Healthy Minds board member.<\/p>\n
\n\tChris Barbin, founder and CEO of Tercera, will receive the Project Healthy Minds Humanitarian of the Year Award, Nespresso will receive the Project Healthy Minds Corporate Visionary of the Year Award, and Bill Lawrence, who serves as executive producer of five TV series including \u201cShrinking,\u201d \u201cTed Lasso,\u201d \u201cScrubs,\u201d \u201cRooster,\u201d and \u201cBad Monkey,\u201d will take home the 2026 Project Healthy Minds Storyteller of the Year Award.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe nonprofit\u2019s signature World Mental Health Day Festival will take place Oct. 10, also at Spring Studios. Free to the public, the all-day festivities will bring together thought leaders, celebrities, executives and visionaries to delve into mental health. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As artistic curator for Project Healthy Minds World Mental Health Day Gala, taking place Thursday at Spring Studios…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":921160,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[49,48,84,393,394,44278],"class_list":["post-921159","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mental-health","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-health","tag-mental-health","tag-mentalhealth","tag-people-companies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/921159","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=921159"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/921159\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/921160"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=921159"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=921159"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=921159"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}