- WINSTON SILL/FREELANCE PHOTOGRAPHER
Saint model, Melissa Perry in Dexter Pottinger's winning avant garde design.
Nashauna Drummond, Staff Reporter
If at first you don't succeed, brush your self off and try again.
- Late singer Aaliyah
THAT IS what 22-year-old Saint Model turned fashion designer Dexter Pottinger did to take the 2005 Appleton avant-garde Designer of the Year award at the Saint International Fashion Faces and avant-garde competition earlier this month.
"I entered last year and didn't win because the judges thought my design was too nude so this time I went for classy and sexy, showing enough but not everything," he said.
His entry last year was an off-the-shoulder leather and cotton dress with mesh material from above the breasts to the knees and had a leather band. This year he came back with a piece that blended the shades behind the Appleton bottle and roots of Africa.
"I had a wire dress concept from last year but I was saving it for an occasion and not just a design and the competition was that event," explained Pottinger. "I was so happy deep inside (after winning) I couldn't even smile," he said, explaining the sober mood in which he collected his plaque and cash award of $75, 000.
