Kavelle Anglin-Christie, Staff Reporter

Scenes from the launch of Fashion Face of the Caribbean and the Appleton Avant Garde designer of the year contest 2007, held at Up On The Roof, Knutsford Boulevard, New Kingston, on Monday. - Photos by Winston Sill/ Freelance Photographer

On Monday night, Saint International unveiled their latest models and designers for '07 at Up On The Roof, New Kingston.

The model finalists will be taking part in the Fashion Face of the Caribbean while the designers will enter The Appleton Genesis Avant Garde Designer of the Year contest.

Deiwght Peters, CEO of Saint said for this year's Avant Garde competition, "we will be having some judges from the Parson's School of Design ... which is a leading design school...Another thing is that there will be a $100, 000 prize for designer of the year courtesy of Appleton."

David Walton, brand manager of Appleton, said Appleton Genesis would be teaming up for the first time with Style Week Jamaica and they are excited about the venture because "the competition brings out the ingenuity and creativity of the designer."

Creative industries

Sydney Bartley, director of tourism, entertainment and culture said, "We are very pleased to be associated with this event because of the importance of creative industries ... We would like to congratulate Saint and we want Style Week this year to be the best ever ... It is our hope that we can take Saint's products to other shores."

It wasn't all about speeches though. There were several teasers for the audience. The Fashion Face of the Caribbean which features more than 30 finalists, strut their stuff on the runway and some were fingered by the audience as models to watch.

The audience also got a preview of this year's designs. The Terri Nicholson pieces shown were a black leather dress with a corset top with mini skirt with pleats in the back followed by a red negligée, not leaving much to the imagination.

The Schniel Francis designs had a touch of plastic class. A white blouse and skirt suit decorated with large pink plastic designs which littered the clothes was presented. It was followed by a blue and yellow plastic dress, which was decorated with ruffles on the bust area and the bottom half of the dress.

Show-stopper

The NeahL's preview was also a show-stopper. She showcased two pieces - a green silk chiffon dress with a floral scarf rope twisted in the back and attached to the dress. The wedged shoes were also wrapped with the matching floral fabric. The male piece was a green shirt with floral cuffs.

Martin 'Smiley' Miller's line had a black and white pimp theme, so to speak. The female ensemble was a black and white striped hat, black boy shorts and short corset, over which a long, white, sleeveless silk jacket was worn.

The male ensemble was a three piece suit - a white shirt, a white vest with decorations, along with a long black pinstriped jacket with a crown emblem in the back.

Among the other designs shown were Les Brown, Ray Lindo, Gillespie and Clinton Smith (Imagewear).