By Alicia Roache, Staff ReporterSIMON FOSTER and Peter Bowen have been collectively designing the line Simon/Peter for over 18 years.
Simon, however, has been designing for 30 years. Considered the 'father' of fashion in Barbados, Simon's designs, now Simon/Peter, have adorned the bodies of British royalty, including Countess Carla Cavalli Rossi di Montelera, and celebrities including Joan Collins and Jody Kidd.
ELEGANTLY CASUAL
Their designs are elegantly casual women's resort-wear that range in suitability for day to evening wear.
Guyanese-born Simon Foster trained at the Royal College of Art in England, while Peter Bowen had no formal training as a fashion designer. In an intense fusion of art and fashion, Simon works to create the designs, while Peter does most of the painting.
"I have a very naive way of painting, it's so simple its to talk about because its so easy to emulate," says Peter. "A lot of Caribbean people have a lot of innate creativity. I think its there in the blood. It's in the appreciation of movement and dance. It's there in the culture," says Simon.
Whether it's silk chiffon, dupioni silk, rayon, cotton or linen Simon/Peter designs clothes that are simply unique. The ragged, ruffled hemlines are an example of their distinctive designs and people come from all over Europe to Barbados to experience the 'soft, feminine' beauty that is a Simon/Peter creation.
"The women who are coming to Barbados from London, that's why we have such a high foreign clientele and a very up-market one. And a lot of them are in the business in America and Europe and they buy our stuff because it's something they can't get anywhere else," says Simon.
The Simon/Peter resort clothes are worn all over the world, such as in Portofino, Capri, the South of France. "I'm really happy to be in the field of creating and making people feel beautiful and look beautiful," concludes Peter.
The designers recently showcased their work at 'Caribbean Fashionweek 2004'.
