Photos by Winston Sill/Freelance Photographer
Models display Mutamba designs at Caribbean Fashionweek 2004.
Christina Bickhoff-Benjamin, Gleaner Writer
OPEN YOUR EYES! Pay attention! This is not another article about our divine Jamaican models you know, those who have "broken all fashion barriers".
No! This is about the art the creation that is paraded before our eyes at every fashion show. These aren't just pieces of overpriced 'cloth' draped over 'mawga', extremely underfed models ... Behold! Design is beyond fashion, it is art.
A CLASSIC TREASURE
Barry Moncrieffe is one of Jamaica's well-known designers and comes from a family including four sisters.
"Fashion was all around me. I did my first sketching when I was very young, they [his sisters] said it was so 'way out'," Moncrieffe says.
A teacher of dance at the Edna Manley School of Dance, he is greatly influenced by his dance experience.
"Movement is very important. I like flowing fabrics dance is movement." Along with the elegant creations we have witnessed in the world of high fashion, he designs costumes for his dance productions. "I get my inspiration from the piece. You have to see the movements; I'll look at [the dance] several times so I can make sure the clothes aren't too restricting," says Moncrieffe about his costumes. "I like simple lines, but I always have a signature piece that can never be worn. I like interesting things. I like to experiment," he says in reference to a white cotton design that caught my eye.
The piece was a wedding dress in classic white, yet enhanced with what looks like an extremely Caribbean, carnival-inspired flair. The dress is made from Jamaican cotton, which is grown in Jamaica but processed in Europe.
"It's a Caribbean wedding dress I thought of a wedding by the sea," said Moncrieffe about his creation.
Moncrieffe is commonly viewed as one of the more consummate artists in Jamaica's fashion business. It definitely takes an experienced master to transform three classic colours into string after string of aesthetic treasures.
EXOTIC 'POSSIBILITIES'
Amber Cohen describes what she does with fashion as 'wearable art'.
"You're not wearing a piece of canvas or a whole African village. I'd take out a little accent of whatever that culture is and put that on my clothes," she explained.
'The African family' which is a new line showcasing airbrushed, African figurines was premiered on Sunday, July 10, at the Chinese Benevolent Society. Cohen told The Sunday Gleaner the secret of her
inspiration.
"Fabrics inspire me...natural fibres people say natural and they go 60/40 ... I go 100 per cent!"
She is influenced by an Indian method of creating texture and design.
"They use a wood block to print on the fabric. Things we take for granted they use...anyone would be turned onto that energy."
Cohen and her partner Mutabaruka have put a unique stamp on Jamaican fashion design. Through their line, Mutamba, they have managed to use culturally exotic imagery and methodologies to bring Jamaican fashion from the feet of the industry to eye level with the rest of the world. Their talent is extraordinary. Whether on the runway or in their roughest sketches, their work whispers to people about karma and spiritual energy, but screams tales of ethnic tradition and legend.
One particular piece that caught my eye is a work of art that makes the word 'clothing' sound simply monotonous. The dress depicts a red-orange sunset, which extends across the width of the garment before melting into a warm 'Jamaican' yellow. This tropical number is completed with a backdrop that makes obvious its Jamaican origin: mountains topped with purplish-blue, green trees, and the golden brown of sea sand at its hemline. The dress, which is slightly sheer, hints at sensuality and isn't that the final touch in any Jamaican work of art? Imprinted in the 'fabric' of every Jamaican is a certain natural sensuality that is solely ours in its 'texture'.
After listening patiently as I complimented her creations, Cohen said simply: "The colours red, green, and gold give you every colour, I just blend. That design is inspired by a Zen Buddhist book; the picture is
from my house in Treasure Beach." She laughed, "I gave it a little name: 'Possibilities'. Maybe it'll make you feel nice anything is possible when you put on clothes."
Upon saying that, she made sure to remind me, "Clothing should be worn for meaning, not beauty and vanity that's negative energy. I don't use my eyes in a store. I use my hands. If I look, that will put me in the realm of vanity, and I don't want that near my life."
JEWELS OF JASAZII
These last words bring to mind another extraordinary designer: Jasazii McKenzie of the self- titled jewellery line "Jasazii". This woman began her interview like a seasoned artist: "It's about beauty, it's about harmony. In my case it's a healing art ... divine inspiration, exploring new territory and bringing others with you."
Jasazii talks about the gems that she uses in her exquisite designs with obvious pleasure. This of course is beyond the love a superficial woman has for expensive stones...this is the respect an artist has for natural beauty, local material the base of her inspiration.
Similar to Amber Cohen, Jasazii relies on touch to rouse her imagination: "When I go to the gem show I feel the stones and I choose the ones that have the most energy...I look at them in interaction with other stones...it's so dynamic!"
Jasazii works with several art forms outside her jewellery designs, and paints quite regularly. Even so, she insists: "Creating with stone and metal is quite a fluid material. Some materials are unforgiving. You can make changes. In art there are no mistakes it's creativity. It can be reborn".
Jasazii 's designs are anything but simple. She uses shells, bamboo, coconut shell, crystallised coral, feathers, and even fossils. Jasazii makes pieces especially for people according to what they believe they need- and I do not mean simply in terms of aesthetic appeal. She creates healing talismans for people.
"Everything that we have ever seen or experienced influences us. Anything we touch we are touched by. Rose quartz is a love stone...I know some people that need heart healing, so I keep my eyes open for [it]". Jasazii takes her inspiration from her surroundings and, of course, her gems. However, she insists that "Jah's creations are so magnificent ... you cannot imitate
it ... it's a creation to honour
creation".
A GENIUS IN TOWN
The final artist in our selection is Sean Dixon, a relatively new addition to Jamaica's fashion dynasty. His designs have brought a new wave of creativity to the fashion business. "I don't try to juice it from someplace," he admitted. "Art comes from the brain. The fingers. Everything ... I believe every man is born with a talent".
Dixon was born into a family of art lovers. One prime influence on his artistic style was his godfather, surrealist Collin Garland. Dixon describes his designs as "an expression of what [he has] inside how you interpret it". Laughing, he said, "I like women, I like to make women beautiful. It isn't to say: 'Look at that dress', it's: 'Look at that woman in that dress! Isn't she gorgeous?'"
Dixon studied art for a period of time at St. Mary High, but dropped it for history, acting on his parents' wishes. Dixon soon found himself sneaking away from school to take art lessons, "I did modelling to get into fashion. I used to sneak away to Pat Francis (fashion designer) and get backstage to see the cuts and fabrics. I got expert tuition; any prints that are made we make them ourselves." Proudly, he confessed that he acquired most of the inspiration for his sketches from his mother and wife.
His early influences were from National Geographic magazine and his travels around the world, "I am fascinated by Amazon art and Aztec art a lot of my prints are like that. I'm influenced by cultures. I put baguettes in my sketches, or I might do something the colour of baguettes I have a baguette-beige which is my colour," says Dixon.
As if his inimitable designs are not enough to prove his artistry, many Sean Dixon dresses are wrapped together with its corresponding sketch a miniature work of art. "Each design is a piece of art hanging in my closet I am very drawn to my pieces. If you look at my sketches I am reflected in all of them," says Dixon, "I sell more sketches than dresses!"
His sketches really are that lovely. The detail he puts into them makes each sketch striking, "I see the character in beauty. If you look in the eyes of everyone my sketches communicate with you. If it doesn't communicate it's not beautiful."
