LEFT: An item from Yola Gray's collection which also received rave reviews from representatives from Parsons. RIGHT: One of the items from Shem Deeke's swimwear collection presented at the 'Tropical Glamour' fashion show, held on the east lawn, Devon House, Hope Road, last week Sunday. -Winston Sill/Freelance Photographer

Alicia Roache, Entertainment Coordinator

When the associate chair from one of the world's leading design schools says your work is fabulous, it is.

Cliched fashion term or not, Carmela Spinelli from the Department of Fashion Design at Parsons: The New School For Design, could not resist the urge to say it.

She admits it's kind of an overused term, especially when related to fashion, but 'fabulous' is fabulous.

Spinelli was making reference to Shem Deeke's swimwear collection, showcased at the Saint International-produced Fashion Face of the Caribbean and Avant Garde designer of the year awards, last weekend.

Shem Deeke did not win that award, but the approval and attention of a member of the New York, USA, institution that has produced such notable design talents as Tom Ford (Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent), Donna Karan, Derek Lam, Marc Jacobs and Narciso Rodriguez is (to borrow another overused word) priceless.

International quality

Spinelli told The Sunday Gleaner that the quality of Shem Deeke's collection was at the international level. "It was cohesive, her use of hardware was fabulous, the colour palette was wonderful, the fit of the bathing suit was superb," she said.

Shem Deeke was one of 11 designers who presented a collection at the show. She was not the only one who caught the eye of Spinelli and assistant chair, Marsha Tonkins, however. They also liked what Yola Gray had to offer.

"Yola is great for a more mature customer, a boutique kind of thing," Spinelli said.

Gray's entry in the Avante Garde competition came away with the $100,000 prize and the trophy.

Those designers who won neither trophy nor acclaim had one flaw consistent in all their collections. They lacked cohesiveness.

"There was a lot of fragmented collections", said Spinelli. "In order to create a big impact, they have to create a cohesive collection."

Both Spinelli and Tonkins think that Shem Deeke's collection is ready for the international market. They envision her collection in high-end fashion stores such as Barneys, Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue. Tonkins says the collection can also be translated into a budget line for stores such as Target and Old Navy.

Shem, though quite happy about the reaction to her work, says that it is exactly as she had expected. "I put a lot of work in it and make sure that I use the right colours," she told The Sunday Gleaner.

Parsons business in Jamaica, besides assessing the design talent, is to collaborate with the Art and Design department at Edna Manley College to "strengthen the ties between education and fashion."

Burchell Duhaney, principal of Edna Manley, is proud of the prospects both for the institution and the young designers who study there.

"We do have the fashion design programme at the college and the talent; we can only strengthen them through partnerships abroad with Parsons," he said.

The project has its initial undertaking in March this year when Spinelli and Tonkins returned to Jamaica to collaborate with the students on how to "resource and research for inspiration, to look within their culture, delve within themselves and their life at large".

Focus

The focus of this workshop, they explain, is to help the students develop an aesthetic from their culture. "To abstract it. Not just literal connections, but interpreting your world. Because you live it every day, sometimes you need outsiders to help you do this," Spinelli explained.

Saint CEO Deiwight Peters, who facilitated their visit, says he is very serious about building the fashion industry in Jamaica.

"If we say we are going to take our industry to the next level there really is no way but to get access to the best educational resources," he said. "If you want to be in this business you have to get the education."

Shem, 27, who taught herself with the help of her mother, Veronica Dixon, a seamstress, would love the chance to work with Parsons. "If they are giving courses I wouldn't mind doing it, because I never got professional training on doing like swimsuits," she says.

Sydney Bartley, principal director in the Ministry of Education, Culture and Entertainment, who met with the Parsons representatives, is keen on what he calls 'institutionalising' the industry.

"You need to put fashion in a developmental platform. You need to put it in an institutional platform," he said. "You've got to institutionalise, look at a very important institution like Parsons and linking with Edna Manley College and see if we can build the platform for them,"

"These people have such potential, we want to see them go to the next level", Tonkins said.