Fashion Caribbean– simply extraordinary

The venue? The Campden Park Industrial Estate. The setting? A well-built catwalk fashioned like those at international shows. The event? The Fourth Annual Fashion Caribbean.{{more}}
The three-day event dubbed Fashion Caribbean came to an end last Sunday at the Campden Park Industrial Estate with persons attempting to get their last look at regional fashions and in some instances, purchasing styles worn by models of the Image Modelling Agency the night before.
Fashion Caribbean 2004 had begun with a cocktail party at Roy’s Inn in Kingstown Park on Friday night. But the event that a lot of persons were anticipating came last Saturday and boy was it extraordinary!
It began with a few models showing off acrobatics but ended with a bang of grace and poise that left patrons wondering if this regionally popular event could get any better.
Sixteen designers displayed their stuff but it was Barbadian Pat Brathwaite of Pat Brathwaite Exclusive Designs who kicked off the show displaying designs that seemed to leap from the bodies of the models and strike your senses. Debbie King, decked out in a yellow skirt with matching top and headgear, was a crowd favourite in her Brathwaite design. Debbie’s four-year-old daughter Ziah King, who appeared at the end of the show in a Cole Facts designer dress, showed the patrons at Fashion Caribbean that notwithstanding her tender age, she could play with the big girls. Truly adorable.
Like the Miss St. Vincent and the Grenadines pre-carnival pageant, Fashion Caribbean is also known for the swimwear section. This is always one of the more popular segments that both men and women anxiously await at both shows. It was almost as interesting as the accidental exposure of breasts by one of the models.
So picture this, half-naked Image models in designer swimsuits from St. Lucian Thelma Williams’ Cwad Fashions. The designer must have meticulously handpicked the Image girls for this display. Many things can be said, but one thing was sure, the girls did the line justice as the cotton and nylon crocheted swimwear aroused a few, if not all of the male patrons, leaving them in a state of frenzied anxiety. This line showed that Vincentian women are truly sensuous and beautiful in their own right, especially in swimwear.
Dawn Bacchus Designer Collection showed practical designs that spoke of the different spirits of the human soul. Bacchus, who is a Vincentian residing in Trinidad and Tobago, is the sort of designer who can get very creative but mostly chooses to make clothing that you can wear anywhere. Roseanne Defreitas showed this modelling a brown and white skirt and top set-up. Bacchus’s practicality also came out when models did their stuff in colourful designs complemented by matching umbrellas.
Kimya Glasgow with her “Wide Sargasso Sea” collection showed raw designing talent coming out of St.Vincent. She pleased, and later stated in an interview that she’s thinking about bringing out a male line.
The Cloth Caribbean Limited gave patrons a colourful display of Trinidadian creativity while Jamaican Jackie Cohen with Mutamba Designs used Indian saris to produce true masterpieces of fashion that were ably modeled by one of Images’ finest, Elona Alexander.
Kimon Baptiste with her Kimmystic line, has over the years designed a number of competition winning gowns. She did great on Saturday as Odini Sutherland and other models helped to bring out her creativity.
Models in Guyana’s Cole Facts designs which were the last on stage gave a superb grand finale. Younger models such as Ronda Solomon and Gary Constantine posed nicely, while the more experienced girls Elona and Melissa showed off Cole Facts designs with moves that mimicked that of an international fashion function and led Managing Director of Image Monique Tash to remark, “I was pleased with the finale”.
Fashion Caribbean lasted a little over three hours this year. Unlike other years, there were no mishaps such as power outages and no problem with cooling. This shows that the management team is truly getting their act together.
Other designers who showed their stuff and deserve honourable mention include Gilda Miller, Brown Sugar Clothing Designs, Calvin S Designs, Avark, The Rhaj Paul Project and Creative Textiles Accessories.
Vincentians Nina Solomon of The Clothes Line and Shellene Williams added a local flavour to Fashion Caribbean 2004.