Naomi Campbell, Heidi Klum, and Victoria Beckham Put on Birthday Suits for T-Shirt Campaign, Raising Over $1 Million for Melanoma Research at NYU Cancer Institute

May 17, 2009

NEW YORK—Marc Jacobs has reissued color versions of some of the most popular "Protect The Skin You're In" celebrity nude T-shirts as part of an ongoing campaign to raise awareness about the deadly skin cancer and benefit melanoma research at the NYU Cancer Institute at NYU Langone Medical Center.  The campaign, which features more than a dozen celebrities baring all for skin cancer, has already raised over $1 million for the NYU School of Medicine's Interdisciplinary Melanoma Cooperative Group (IMCG).

"The public awareness generated by the T-shirt campaign is enormous, not to mention the funds that have been raised," says Dr. William L. Carroll, director of the NYU Cancer Institute, who notes that proceeds of the sales of the T-shirts benefit IMCG. "We are grateful for the generosity of Marc Jacobs and Robert Duffy in allowing the NYU Cancer Institute to focus on research and advancing clinical care."

"Protect The Skin You're In" T-shirts—featuring Heidi Klum (black), Helena Christensen (turquoise), Dita Von Teese (red), Naomi Campbell (white) and Victoria Beckham (fuschia)—baring all for skin cancer have been reissued and are available only at Marc Jacobs stores. "Protect Your Largest Organ," featuring Brandon Boyd (gray) and Mr. Jacobs (purple), are also available.

The campaign was launched in 2006 when Mr. Jacobs and his business partner Robert Duffy, president of Marc Jacobs International, LLC and a melanoma survivor, persuaded celebrities to pose in "the altogether" to raise awareness and funding for the deadly disease.  Celebrities, who posed despite the advice of agents and managers, include Winona Ryder, Rufus Wainwright, Eva Mendes, Julianne Moore, and Selma Blair. Photographer Brian Bowen Smith traveled around the world multiple times for celebrity photo shoots for the project, which pays tribute to the late Dr. Jesse Rubin, a former dermatologist at NYU Langone Medical Center.

"Marc and Robert have taken very personal experiences and used their creative energies to truly impact the direction of melanoma research and care here," says Dr. Richard Shapiro, a surgeon at the NYU Cancer Institute, who treated Mr. Duffy and notes that his former patient has committed to supporting this campaign annually. "We are forever grateful."

Someone dies of melanoma every hour, but when detected early, the disease is curable. The only thing necessary for early detection is a trained pair of eyes, but many people are too embarrassed to strip down in front of a physician or loved one.  To determine whether a mole is cancerous, Dr. Shapiro urges people to use the ABCDE rule-developed and refined by physicians at NYU Langone Medical Center: A for asymmetry; B for irregular border; C for color variation; D for diameter larger than a pencil eraser; and E for evolution of existing mole.

T-shirts are available only in Marc Jacobs stores nationwide.  For information, go to www.marcjacobs.com  and click under special items for locations and contact information.  For more information about melanoma and other cancers visit the NYU Cancer Institute Web site at www.nyuci.org.

The NYU Interdisciplinary Melanoma Cooperative Group (NYU-IMCG) is a multidisciplinary melanoma translational research program dedicated to advancing the care of melanoma patients through a coordinated approach combining basic science, translational research and clinical care. Its 23 investigators represent 11 departments at NYU Langone Medical Center. Since 2002, it has enrolled over one-thousand patients, who have donated blood and tumor tissues for research. NYU-IMCG is supported by the NYU Cancer Institute, NYU School of Medicine's Ronald O. Perelman Department of Dermatology, and the Marc Jacobs' campaigns to support melanoma research.

Contact:
Dorie Klissas
Office of Communications and Public Affairs
NYU Langone Medical Center
212.404.3555 (office)
646.761.4724 (cell)
Dorie.Klissas@nyumc.org

About NYU Cancer Institute
The mission of the NYU Cancer Institute is to discover the origins of human cancer and to use that knowledge to eradicate the personal and societal burden of cancer in our community, the nation and the world. NYU Cancer Institute is an NCI-designated Cancer Center.

About NYU Langone Medical Center
NYU Langone Medical Center is one of the nation's premier centers of excellence in health care, biomedical research, and medical education.  For over 167 years, NYU physicians and researchers have made countless contributions to the practice and science of health care.  Today the Medical Center consists of NYU School of Medicine, including the Smilow Research Center, the Skirball Institute for Biomolecular Medicine, and the Sackler Institute of Graduate Biomedical Sciences;  the three hospitals of NYU Hospitals Center, Tisch Hospital, a 726-bed acute-care general hospital; Rusk Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine, the first and largest facility of its kind; NYU Hospital for Joint Diseases, a leader in musculoskeletal care; and such major programs as the NYU Cancer Institute, the NYU Child Study Center, and the Hassenfeld Children's Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders.