CARIBBEAN NIGHT of BB Fashion Week 2011 on Saturday was a wealth of beauty and talent at the Courtyard Marriott’s catwalk in Hastings, Christ Church.
And despite the two-hour wait for the show to begin, designers like Marcie Lindey-Desantos of Guyana, the twin collaboration of the Burrowes sisters and Deniese Dennis of Jamaica, as well as Sharleen J. Lagon Jaeyluinc of St Lucia oozed both sensuality and opulence to make it almost worth the wait.
Lindey-Desantos was the best on show, presenting not only skilful hand-painting on her creations but absolutely flawless clean cuts, awesome blends of colour and style and great tailoring from form-fitting, high-waisted mini-dresses with linear lines to long, layered hemlines on tube, halter and off-shoulder necklines, to name a few.
The Burrowes sisters and partner Dennis were the one-two punch. Dennis’ dramatic to cutesy feathery hats were the perfect finishing touches to the twins’ couture-like dresses that ranged from playful floral jumpers with open backs and large band waists to gorgeous pattered mini-dresses.
Jaeyluinc presented the dramatic fusion of Asia meets Caribbean. There were trumpet sleeves, open backs, plunging necklines, beaded waistlines, sheer to cotton blends of Geisha-inspired pieces made into micro minis, flowing floor-length dresses and skirts with exotic slits from the waistline that were all infused with every tropical colour.
Collections from others included Kimon Baptiste from St Vincent, whose bold square shoulders or unique collar tubes were her trademarks for this collection and impacted almost everything, including her form-fitting jumpers and dresses.
The Trinidad contingent – which included Anthony Redhead, SM Warner, Dan Axe and Stacy Smith – used bright colours in varying combinations and different blends and cuts of materials to enhance its culturally-infused design inspirations for men’s and women’s wear. There were gorgeous gowns with hand-painted art, breezy three-quarter men’s wear with draw-strings, tiny exaggerated bikinis and more.
