T&T Fashion Week wrap up

Fashion is in the air and blowing like a hurricane from south to north in the space of a fortnight!

Even though Fashion Week Trinidad & Tobago wrapped up on June 2, there is still so much to show and tell from that long weekend of fabulous Caribbean fashion.

This is all the moreso because the folks at our new favourite fashion blog, CF Style have been working... hard! I am exhausted just looking at the amount of photo footage and interviews they got out of FWTT - it is an impressive show of dedication to Caribbean fashion.

Anyhow, here are a few of our picks from FWTT.

Fashion Week T&T gets underway

So Fashion Week Trinidad and Tobago is underway and so far the few reports we are getting in are mixed.

Basically in a nutshell - love the clothes, hate the congestion.

That has been the consensus from both Caribbean Fashion Style Journal and Judette Coward-Puglisi's 5 a.m. at Mango Media blogs.

The folks at CFStyle were not happy about some of the organisational glitches on the opening night - they had issues with getting accreditation, ticket-holders could not get into the event because it was full and the traffic scene outside of the Hyatt was federation, apparently.

For her part, Judette noted that the pre-event cocktail ceremony was in a too-small room, leading guests to feel 'claustrophobic' and designers were forced to stand because there was not enough seating.

However, both were agreed that the show itself - which is of course what it is all about - was sizzling.

CFStyle described it as a "tight and hitchless showing" while Judette declared that:

"[The] debut night of FWTT  was  so hot, it practically caused a  fire  with all the  Caribbean style,  fresh faces and  nubile bodies."

We have gotten a glimpse of some of the pics from CFStyle, including Heather Jones fantastic wedding collection and thus far we would have to agree. But what do you think?

Trini fashion doyenne Claudia Pegus mugged

Shocking and yet not shocking news out of Trinidad this weekend just past, islandistas.

I know you all know of Claudia Pegus, the Trinidadian designer and one of the grand dames of Caribbean fashion.

On Friday night, she and her assistants were held up at gunpoint in her atelier in Trinidad (not in Barbados, as the Observer's Tatler column claimed) and robbed as they were preparing for Fashion Week Trinidad and Tobago which starts on Friday.

Over on Mango Media Caribbean's 5 a.m. blog, they have the (pretty harrowing) details.

Caribbean Fashion Week 2008

(photo credit: David X Prutting/Patrick McMullan via NY Times The Moment)

Models backstage at CFW 08 in Heather Jones designs

Alright, alright I know I'm a liiikkle late but fear not, I was never going to forget the full-on islandista fabulosity that is Caribbean Fashion Week every year.

As usual Kingsley Cooper and the Pulse crew did it how we only do it. There was an array of gorgeous models in various hues of brown, with bodies that look like them nyam some food rather than the anorexic Eastern Euro-chic of every other catwalk- this is no doubt the only Fashion Week in the world where black models have no problem getting a bligh.

No less than the NY Times' The Moment blog noted the difference between CFW and the rest:

C.F.W. is a rarity in that it shows no signs of androgyny. Yanking up their bold Yardmanstyle t-shirts, the Jamaican male models flashed physiques that caused mass hysteria in the audience. And the heavenly bodies of the vari-hued Nubian catwalk beauties appeared to be silicone-free.

The androgyny-freeness was not just evident in the models but in the collections. The designs and colours were so distinctively Caribbean and yet not in a cliched way. There was rich, lush colour evocative of and appropriate to a true flamboyant tree-blooming, mango-filled Caribbean summer as seen in Heather Jones' designs up above and in the juicy orange skirts of Claudia Pegus dresses seen below.

 There were edgy, sexy rudegal-influenced designs from Born As Ragamuffin as seen below at right.





 There were celebs in the front row from islandista actress Nia Long and fellow actress Vanessa Williams and rapper Eve who also showcased her Fetish clothing line.



Clearly an event for islandistas! More pics of our picks below.



I love, love, love this fluffy, beribboned confection from Zadd & Eastman. Ribbons (ribboning?) were a theme in several of their designs as seen in this column dress below worn by fast-rising Barbadian model Tenille Stoute.





(photo credit: Ryan Lue-Clarke via Popstyle Jamaica)

Gorgeous splashes of colour came from one of Trinidad's grand dames of fashion, Meiling, as seen above.

For more photos check out Popstyle Jamaica which has tons of photos and coverage from CFW 08.