By Ayanna Kirton, Staff ReporterJAMAICA'S leading modelling agencies will stage week-long exhibitions of Caribbean fashion, both pulling out all the stops to create exposure for the work of local and regional designers.
Saint International's Style Week and Pulse Investments' Caribbean Fashion Week will kick off within weeks of each other, with Saint's Style Week running from May 23-27 and Caribbean Fashion Week following closely on its heels, from June 10 through 13. CEO of Saint International Dewight Peters says Style Week Jamaica "will up the glamour quotient of Jamaican designers" who will be given the opportunity to work with top fashion photographers during the week's events and showcase their designs on the "mother of all catwalks" when Style Week kicks off on Sunday, May, 23. According to Peters, the first day of Style Week's activities, which will be offered to the public free of cost, will feature over 50 models who will work a 100ft catwalk in the middle of Knutsford Boulevard, New Kingston.
With an event of this magnitude, Peters says designers are challenged to present collections that will be appeal to international buyers and will compete in the international fashion market. "There will be strict quality control during these events," he says, "We have to make an impression so it is important that we understand the international look of fashion not only in our models but in the quality of our designers' collections."
Kingsley Cooper, director of Pulse Investments, says this year Caribbean Fashion Week will see an increase in the activities surrounding the 4-day event. "This year is much more demanding than 2003 was," says Cooper of CFW, which celebrates its fourth anniversary this year. "There will be more designers, more media, more activities, more shows, which require more production and staff as well as an extra day to show and to stage the exhibition, which is also 20 per cent larger than 2003."
