Krista Henry, Staff Reporter

A model sports a Catalin Botezatu design at Pulse's Caribbean Fashionweek finale, held at the National Indoor Sports Centre, Independence Park, last Sunday. - Winston Sill/Freelance Photographer

It was a five-hour-long finale for Pulse's Caribbean Fashionweek (CFW), held at the Indoor Sports Arena last Sunday night.

Patrons were in for a star-studded evening as four female superstars - rapper, actress and designer Eve, actress Vanessa Williams, singer Mashonda and actress Nia Long - rocked the runway.

Starting after 8 p.m., Canada's Lubica opened the show with her signature crochet dresses and swimwear.

Lubica walked out accompanied by local singer Tami Chynn, who modelled a skimpy blue Lubica dress.

'Rebel Clothing' by Mujaji Tokunbo, a first-timer to CFW from the United States, followed. With an Afrocentric look, Rebel Clothing featured a lot of reds, greens and golds with images of Marcus Garvey, among other popular figures, on T-shirts and skirts.

Funky styles

Another first-timer, Romero Bryan from the United Kingdom, had a very futuristic feel with long sheer short and long dresses. Bryan's clothes had a very shiny appearance in very funky styles. Mutamba was in usual form with bright orange colours, zebra prints and long, free-flowing materials.

Barry Moncrieffe's men's and women's collection had a number of matching items in red and white. A classic Moncrieffe black and white chequered women's skirt suit was a hit with the audience.

Claudia Pegus from Trinidad and Tobago was a show-stopper, making the first big impression for the night. Pegus had very funky women's clothes with leather, sheer material.

Pegus' clothes had a moulin rouge-like theme, utilising a lot of black with red. The audience got on their feet when Pulse model Nadine Willis came out pushing a baby pram with her new daughter, Zein, in it. This was Willis' first appearance on a runway since giving birth recently. In a butterfly-patterned short dress, Willis looked to be in good shape.

Mashonda, Vanessa Williams and Nia Long made their first appearances on the runway in Pegus dresses with Mashonda in pink, Williams in a red-feathered short dress and Long in short orange dress with puffy sleeves.

Caribbean flair

Heather Jones brought a real Caribbean flair with bright colours, Gavin Douglas from the United Kingdom impressed, as usual, with pleated dresses in royal blue. He combined modern styles with old-fashioned chic.

Gary Codner and Bill Edwards followed as the patrons anxiously waited to see 'Fetish' from rapper Eve. Fetish had very casual yet sexy clothes with Eve's signature lion paws on the hoody dresses. Eve was awarded the Smirnoff Originator Award for 2008 for her work in fashion.

Romanian Catalin Botezatu was also memorable with bright colours, feathers and unusual designs. Vanessa Willams looked angelic in a sheer, embroidered white dress from Botezatu.

Dancehall superstar designer Biggy had a more elegant feel to his collection this year, with jeans with patterns, skimpy skirts and nice tops. Biggy also had a number of long, beautiful dresses.

Francis Hendy's men's collection had a fun western feel with ponchos, leather pants and cowboy hats. Nkwo from the UK and Deola Sagoe from Nigeria closed the show after 1 a.m.