The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly from Caribbean Resort Style Week

This has been a hectic but fabulous month of November so far; the unofficial fashion month of Trinidad and Tobago! Every night I'm at events, and every day I'm meeting with designers and brands to retail on nomorefashionvictims.com (Shameless plug.)

This whirlwind month of fashion shows, product launches and Christmas markets was kicked off last weekend with the annual Bits and Pieces Christmas pop-up on Saturday and the Resort Style Week Port of Spain Show on Sunday at the Trinidad Country Club. The show lineup was impressive with big names like Meiling, Zadd and Eastman, Claudia Pegus and Millhouse to name a few. It was expected to be the fashion event of the year.

I can't get too lengthy and I don't want to go one reviewing each designer. There's another show in a couple hours and I need to hustle if I want to make it! So, here's the gist of it, and how I feel.

I'm always going on and on about the Caribbean aesthetic, and by now even I am sick of hearing about it. This show though, was a clear indicator of what Trinidadian designers think of the way Caribbean people dress or should dress.

The Good: The strongest designers to me are Meiling, Zidelle Daniel for XOZ, Adrian Foster, Charu Lochan Dass for CLD,  The Cloth, Aisling Camps and Zadd and Eastman.  Meiling, Aisling, CLD, Adrian and Zidelle all have something in common. Their aesthetic is clean, easy to wear, architectural, well-constructed and classic yet with special and surprising elements. They shy away from colour, which with the stigma of Carnival and our fusion of vibrant cultures, is a deviation from what some may perceive as a signature detail in the "Caribbean Aesthetic". Yet, they insert into their collections subtle and unexpected moments of chromatic hues here and there.

 

 (left)Chartreuse ribbon belted over Meiling's a denim and gingham patterned look
from Meiling's "Borrowed from the Boys" Collection 

On a mostly monochromatic collection, Zidelle incorporated this multicolor beaded bodice. Yes! Those are beads!

 The Cloth and Zadd and Eastman are very different from that first group. They embrace the conventional island inspiration of vivid flora and kaleidoscopic cultural influences. Yet, they maintain very sophisticated style lines and thoughtful design. While I am very drawn to the boxy silhouettes and woven cottons of the others, I am still enchanted by the flowy ease of Zadd and Eastman's collection, and the almost jarring juxtaposition of prints from The Cloth.

Somewhere between these two groups is that "Caribbean Aesthetic". 

My favourite look from Zadd and Eastman

The Cloth

The Bad: While some designers showed styles that would be fitting over a swimsuit (it was a Resort show after all) I feel there is still a disconnection between Runway fashion and Real Women. Everything is gorgeous when it blowing in the breeze and taped down strategically on a tall, slender girl with professional hair and make-up, but not so much on 5 foot tall me after eating some crab and dumpling at Pigeon Point. I urge the designers who like this style, to do more than just stitch triangles of fabric at the corners and call it a dress. Design is more than just what looks pretty. Get creative and try some manipulations of your pattern. Add an interesting detail or technique. Stop giving us the same old.

 The Ugly: I was shocked to see certain pieces on that runway, let me tell you. I won't call any names or post any pictures because people are sensitive. I never mean to embarrass or insult anyone but some things have to be said. Puff paints and glitter glue do not belong on any runway anywhere except for Project Runway's Threads which features little children getting creative with crafts and clothes. Zidelle Daniel made feathers out of fabric and cleverly layered them over one another on a casual crop top and hand stitched them into place. If she can invest so much thought, effort and creativity into a basic piece, how dare you squirt colourful glue onto silk like if this is kindergarten? You are spoiling good and expensive fabric. Not acceptable. You can do better than that. Also, I saw a "Sari" with a deeya painted on it. A sari is a piece of cloth wrapped. draped and tucked around a body. That is your design? A piece of cloth that people have been wearing since clothing was invented? This is what you do to make it modern? You draw a deeya on it? It baffles me that this particular collection was shown on the same platform as the greats. Fabric surface treatments have long been a Caribbean thing, but there must be some way more current, sophisticated and beautiful than drawing and painting pictures like if people want to be murals. If it looks like it belongs in a gift shop in Piarco, start over. I know not even you want to wear that.

Zidelle's Beautiful Fabric Feathers

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That's what she said: Conversations overheard during the StyleWeek Show

*I renamed the voices to protect them from any social media attacks and cut-eye.

Me: " I've seen it all. Look at this one. Steups"

Dita: "I actually like this one! It's different!"

Me: "What? You are lying. Shevonne, Dita says she likes this one"

Shevonne: "Yes! I do too! It's kind of kitschy!"

Dita: " If I shorten it and add straps I could definitely rock that."

Me: "I judge you both. You are liars. Shut up."

• 
  

Me: "Yes! I have to get that!"

Shevonne: "Me too! I'm getting it before you"

• 
  

Me: "Oh I LOVE that skirt! Love!"
Dita: "Meh. It needs to be about 5 inches longer"
Me: "You think? I dunno. I like it."
*Model turns around and we see her butt cheeks hanging out
Dita: "Like I said"

• 
  

Me: "Oh my goodness"

Carol: "Oh I thought it was only me!"

Me: "Oh! Did I say that out loud?!"

Carol: "Haha! Yes!"

• 
  

Dita: "Let's see who could upload the video first!"

Me: "Already finished my caption!"

Dita rubs her fingers all over my screen.

• 
  

Dita: "Why would anyone want all that fluff around their waist?"
Me: "Because they enjoy looking like a Mampie. Mampie is in. "

• 
  

I glare at Shevonne.

Shevonne: "It's the glitter ent?"

Me:"It's the glitter puff paint"

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Our Urban

Many lust after the shopping experiences of the chic Europeans and the exotic Middle Easterners, just to name a few. I was overwhelmed and exhilarated to attend classes smack dab in the middle of Oxford Street, London, where I filled up on long walks and feasted my eyes on quirky window displays during my lunch hours. Everyone remembers the scene in Sex and the City when Carrie sashays between aromatic brown spices and sparkling hooked shoes in Dubai. Many Trinidadians travel to Miami to line up in the excitement of snaking queues for annual sales and Holiday discounts. But what about Downtown Port of Spain, our own shopping hub?

Stuck in bumper to bumper traffic between Charlotte and Queen Street this week, I paused to look at my surroundings with fresh eyes. The city is breathtaking. In this small congested labyrinth of narrow streets and bustling pedestrians, is the simultaneous unraveling of thousands of activities that that feed one another.

Within inches of each other one can find electrical appliances and spotted mangoes for sale. Mothers leading children along the crooked pavements, mindlessly step over the dips and holes. Everyone is in a hurry. Everyone is carrying much more than they can hold. Stretched black bags and stryfoam containers with left over lunch. Drivers ignore the traffic signals and all rush to squeeze into the narrow streets. You can smell the drains, the food, the people, the plastic. The shop signs are all dull and weathered. Old men with hardened faces appear relaxed amid the chaos, casually smoking cigarettes and carrying on conversations without being distracted by the noise. People shouting, cars screeching, music blasting from pirated CD Salesmen. The air is hot except for the brief burst of coolness that escapes from every other open door along the pavement. Dipped chain link fences around the much too small car parks. Countless shops all looking the same, yet selling unimaginable varying random knick knacks. Fierce looking faces, kind looking ones and ones you can't read. People averting eye contact except for the idle men who want the women's attention to tell them what they like. Piles of garbage swept up and left in heaps along the drains. Car horns. Laughter.

It's so much that I can't even write it all down. It's overwhelming yet strangely heartwarming. This is the city of a developing nation. It is part of who we are. It is gross and fantastic all at the same time. I know a lot of people from different parts of the world read this blog, especially from Canada, USA, India, Australia, Germany and France. Thought I would share this experience with you.