Tesi Johnson, Gleaner Writer
Left: Puffed sleeves, often much exaggerated like those on this Moncrieffe creation, is what Caribbean designers would love to see Caribbean women wear.
Right:
Clothing in black and white stripes turned up on the runway on several occasions at Caribbean Fashionweek (CFW) 2006. Biggy uses his black and white fabric to fashion a pair of itty-bitty boy shorts and a long-sleeved cropped jacket to match. - PHOTOS BY WINSTON SILL/FREELANCE PHOTOGRAPHER
ON THE fashion scene, great designers are like demigods and their collection is like a pictorial bible giving guidance on what to wear and how to wear it. If Caribbean Fashionweek (CFW) 2006 was the actualisation of the book of revelations, then the forecast for the upcoming fashion calendar and beyond, is mostly sunny.
It seems that the designers featured in this year's show are getting better at channelling Caribbean creativity to fashion international quality products. It is easy to mimic the trends that emerged from the fall and winter 2005, and spring 2006 collections of U.S. and European designers; but it is a more arduous task to follow the footsteps of established international designers without committing some sort of fashion plagiarism. Most of the Caribbean designers lived up to the challenge where their collections reflected originality - the kind of originality that inspires trends that people take as law when with what to cover their backs, unless the trend decreed backless!
'STYLE OVER FASHION'
The late Bogle said, "fashion over style", but he was mistaken. It should actually be "style over fashion" as it takes a sense of style to interpret fashion and make it your own. Look to the streets to see if any of these trends that were popular over the three -day span of CFW 2006 ever materialised.
The hemline of choice was the "pumpkin cut." Moncrieffe did his rendition of the pumpkin skirt, as did Sean Dixon
Last year this time, the hips were the focus, but this year accents moved up higher - to the waist.
Stripes are a runway staple but there was significant use of black and white stripes. Biggy's collection featured a couple of striped black and white pieces.
