Sonia Noel shows in St Lucia, Montreal

Sonia Noel on the catwalk at the end of her showing in St Lucia
Sonia Noel on the catwalk at the end of her showing in St Lucia

While preparing for Guyana Fashion Week scheduled for November, Sonia Noel has been taking her ‘lattice becomes lace’ couture to distant shores.

She was on hand in St Lucia for the ‘Hot Couture… fashion for freedom’ show, which is now a staple of the annual much-anticipated St Lucia Jazz and Arts festival.

Sonia’s collection for this event ranged from carefree resort wear in cottons/linens to a more luxurious island elegance in draped and stretch lace to cater to that after five client who does the town at Caribbean festivals. Staying with her signature latticework, she also introduced her fantasy lace textile, marrying the two. The collection was reportedly well received.

Next was the first ever Montreal Caribbean Fashion Week, where she presented in absentia.

This collection boasted a touch of her Mariska brand and a taste of her First Resort line. She reveals that pieces were sold right off the runway and orders were placed for some of the more intricate of her bamboo and beads masterpieces.

Sonia says her “bosom buddy, celebrated Caribbean fashion guru, Trinidadian Richard Young was creative director” for both the Hot Couture and Montreal Caribbean Fashion Week.

And on to the BMEX in Barbados, which opened this week and will run until next Monday, where her designs will also be on show.

She says her aim is to continue to make inroads into trendsetting fashion events, while keeping the Guyana flag flying high.

“We Guyanese must be positioned at the right place at the right time, if we are to move with the fashionable global time and so seize the opportunity to influence the international fashion trendsetters,” she says.