Feathers, bows and Guyana Fashion Weekend

If every year we look to Guyana Fashion Weekend (GFW) for new trends, things could get really interesting. Women could substitute feathers for clothes and walk our streets with things dangling from places I’d rather not mention, and this is just the beginning.

Men, well those brave enough, could walk into stores and buy naughty lingerie like the see-through men’s brief with big bows at the front which designers Mwanza Glenn and Paul Burnett unveiled during their racy collection titled, ‘Black Buzz’.

I like the dramatic appeal of feathers, particularly when they are strategically placed on a woman’s body and I could see it now; an explosion of flesh and feathers on our streets in another few months at Mashramani. What I like even more is the fact that new ideas abounded at GFW 2011; no matter how crazy a particular one seemed at the time.

Something happened inside the Pegasus Hotel on Sunday night when designer, Mishanna Cox offered up ‘Flirtatious Feathers’. Cox not only changed the temperature in the room, but she had people (well some) buying into the variety of things you could do with feathers including asking a woman to wear them on her nipples as a blouse paired with a skin-tight, knee-length skirt. She took feathers and framed the female physique in interesting ways, unveiling a line of cocktail dresses among other things that had feathers woven into places you would not believe.

There was an attitude in Cox’s line that also came out in the collections of designers Maxi Williams, Natisha John and Shedell Burch-Smith. As the collections hit the runaway you got the impression that it was about the clothes; a sense of style and also about how you wear it. This is something the CEO of GFW Sonia Noel understands; she brings more than clothing to a runaway, she brings a complete look and an attitude that sometimes borders on haughty (but I like it).

The fact that GFW has also survived four years and counting is commendable to say the least; it got off to a shaky start this year, stumbling almost to prove why it has remained an annual attraction. But by the time the official opening night wrapped up it was pretty obvious why people invest in it and why many turn out in support. GFW is the only place in the country where you could discover that a young woman who has a hot new boutique in the country is also a hot new designer, and that she really should be marketing her own stuff as opposed to those high-priced foreign imports.

It is also where you would have seen a young Shedell Burch-Smith unveil a promising collection two years ago and return in 2010 with a line that screamed, “fabulously different”. Her new collection titled, ‘Rhapsody’ showed maturity and a fresh new sense of style. Maybe I read it wrong, but Shedell was saying one thing with the line, ‘My designs are fabulous; so what if you don’t get them’. The line served up a few sexy cocktail dresses, chic blouses and skirts and a black lace show-stopper that was so gorgeous people openly talked about  evening dresses and blouses. The best part of his collection came when the models paraded on stage in a line of shirts which he hand designed so beautifully you had to take a second look because he could have easily shipped them in from somewhere.

Natisha had much riding on her collection after winning Designer Portfolio earlier this year with a daring leather and tiger print collection. How do you follow that? She opted for a more sophisticated line straying away a bit from the explicit sex appeal that dominated her earlier, ‘Feline’ collection. This year she used big bows, prints and played around with cuts; the line showed some amount of maturity and was well received. However, if it went to a vote I’d easily go for the leather – as impressive as the new line was.
There was also a string of strong swimsuit lines and among the newcomers were models turned designers, Melessa Payne and Renee Chester. I missed the swimsuit line presented by Olympia Small-Sonaram, but she was one of the big stories of fashion weekend this year and it had nothing to do with her talent designing for beachwear.

Olympia offered up a denim line which frankly rivals anything similar which we import into this country these days. The room was abuzz from the time Olympia’s young daughter hit the runway wearing jeans, jacket and blouse designed by mom. The pieces in the line were stunning and so detailed she obviously spent a considerable amount of time putting it together. The audience sat in awe as her form-fitting dresses; high-waist skirts; shorts and mini-skirts flooded the stage, looking like they were ripped off the rack from one of the popular boutiques in the country.

Sex appeal was certainly there in the collection; a model came out in a denim dress so tight you couldn’t help but wonder whether Olympia actually stitched it on her. Olympia’s denim shorts were real shorts or rather ‘hot pants’, but there was a few simple pieces in the collections which as well.

Strong showings also came this year from APSARA Designs and Sonia Noel’s full plus size line. Sonia had earlier unveiled a few pieces from the collection which makes plus size seriously interesting. In fact, the clothes would look good in any size but Sonia catered for women with defined hips and curves; for her the plus size woman can be simple, sophisticated, sexy and daring in their choices.

People also seemed caught up in the collections of Christopher Goodridge and ‘Black Buzz’ by Mwanza and Paul. It was Christopher’s interpretation of wearable art that had people hooked and the designing duo simply went for the shock factor.

And finally designer Marcia DeSantos; she continues to bring clothes to life that looks like a painting when they are lined up all together. This year Marcia presented, ‘Rhapsody in Gray’ and as usual the designs were stunning! You cannot wear a Marcia DeSantos dress and not feel beautiful in it; that just doesn’t seem possible. (ianaseales@yahoo.com)