It was Andrew Harris’ night and no one could have said anything different, his fashion line of stylish gaucho-inspired pants, hot swimwear, mini skirts and dresses was the breakout collection on the opening night of Carifesta’s Fashion Village.
He opened the collection, ‘Tribute to the rainforest’ with a sexy forest green swimsuit that screamed, ‘hot’ and upped the tempo with a parade of well-toned male models wearing his linen, designed skirts.
Harris paid attention to detail and cut and offered up skirts and pants with an edgy, tribal feel to them. He even played around with a bit of patchwork which showed his playful side but even more, he added a few men’s bags to the collection.
By the time he was ready to take the final walk on the stage and take it all in the audience was asking, ‘is there more’? He stepped onto the stage walking as if his steps had been rehearsed a thousand times but when the sound of applause hit him his steps looked more shaky and he did what anyone bursting with excitement would, laugh out loud.
Harris did not only steal the show, he beat out six others to cap the coveted Designer Portfolio prize which was running as a reality series on the National Communications Network (NCN) for the past six weeks. Of all the prizes he has snagged Harris is pretty happy with the fact that his collection would be featured at the upcoming Guyana Fashion Weekend in October.
But much of the night’s attention did not solely focus on Harris. He ended up sharing the spotlight with Trinidad and Tobago’s Rodney Alexander who owned the stage with his afro-centric line that was featured under the collection, ‘Genuine Quality Styles’.
There were no drums beating and tribal folks chanting either but from the time the dress from Alexander’s collection hit the runaway, it sounded like someone opened a gateway to Africa. Even the models seemed far away from the Sophia Exhibition site where everything was unfolding; they seemed to be walking on air, floating through their steps and swaying to the music that accompanied the collection.
“Where are the drums”, a child asked confused but eventually realized that it was simply a CD playing. Even the child looked as though she too had walked through the little opening into Africa for the few minutes.
Alexander had a stunning collection. It was so breathtaking people had trouble keeping their eyes on one piece. At one end of the stage a loud gasp would sound off and at the other end there are the ‘ahs’. What the Trinidadian designer managed to do was bring Africa to the Caribbean.
His collection was a fantastic display of rich afro-centric dresses, skirt-suits, pant suits; skirts, purses, hats and jewellery. His colours ranged from a mix of gold and maroon to brown and cream. Some of the pieces featured intricate hand painting work while others were a mix of prints.
When Alexander appeared for his final walk patrons stared in amazement at how young he was, one woman wanted to know if he was single.
Carifesta Fashion Focus opened with the designs of the persons who were part of Designer Portfolio and picked up with collections from across the region and a few local designers. Some of the collections shown were from The British Virgin Islands; Barbados, St. Vincent and Trinidad and Tobago.
One of the more sizzling collections of the night came from Guyanese Maxi Williams who finished runner-up to Harris in Designer Portfolio. Williams who had his start in costume designing turned up the heat with a few patriotic pieces, among them a hot, bikini number.
The collection also featured a wonderful line of linen pants and skirts. Williams also played around with prints and brought some fire to the line with a few sexy; chic mini dresses. There were a few imaginative pieces with an elegant flair to them.
It was Williams’ first full collection showing and judging from the buzz he is on his way. Some said if Harris was not that good it could have easily been Williams who would have copped the top prize.
There were the usual thrills that seem to plague local fashion shows, models bumping into each other on stage and a few wardrobe slips. But there was one peek-a-boo moment on the runway when the wrap that one of the models was wearing suddenly slipped, luckily she was in pantyhose.
