Ones to Watch

The Caribbean fashion scene is having its moment in the sun, and for each fashion-focused event across the region, there are new designers bursting at the seams with hope, all primed to parade their items down a runway. The four designers mentioned here - Keneea Linton, Lisa Marie Henry, Camesha Powell and Stacey Smith - each manage to hone their regional upbringing with worldly influence, but with slightly differing degrees of success. Rising from the islands of Jamaica and Trinidad & Tobago, these ladies may indeed become four of the noted Caribbean designers of the moment. But beyond their apparent talent for design and fashion, the question remains as to how well they are each prepared to nurture a fashion line, and which one is primed to take their creations furthest.

Keneea Linton Jamaica

“I’ve been designing since I was thirteen,” says Linton, who originally started out sewing for herself and making dance group uniforms and gowns for friends and family. The genesis of the five year old ‘Keneea Linton’ brand came about through a series of events. “I entered the Project Management field, and organized several fashion shows and model searches. Through those things, I was able to eventually showcase a collection of my own designs which received rave reviews and resulted in an invitation from Mr. Kingsley Cooper of Pulse Management to show my designs at Caribbean Fashion Week in 2006.” Since then, the line has been shown across the region and at various New York shows, including the Brooklyn Fashion Weekend as well as the ‘Fashion for Charity’ event. What’s refreshing about Linton’s line is that it’s not typically ‘Caribbean.’ There are no overly flouncy, wispy outfits, overly bold colourful prints, or run-of-the-mill materials used in the creation of the body conscious lines that dominate the gowns, day dresses and separates of the 2008 collection. It’s the kind of clothing that wears well, the kind that you want to buy, not because you’re an islander and you’re feeling particularly loyal, but because it’s well made. The clear standouts are the day dresses and skirt/blouse combinations. Crafted from luxurious bolts of satins, lace, woven materials and silk, the designs closely followed the trends of the international spring 2008 fashion season.

Ranging from $100.00 - $160.00 USD for a day dress, to $300.00 - $650.00 for an evening gown, the Keneea Linton 2008 line features neat capped sleeves, buttoned and flower details, and tucked waists on the dresses and silk shifts. The gowns—whilst not the main attraction at Caribbean Fashion Week—were daringly cut and stood out, if only for their rich jeweled tones. “The Keneea Linton line is influenced greatly by my travels and appreciation of varying cultures,” the designer mused. “The 2008 line is influenced by the women who still dress up at spring-time to have tea and do lunch with their friends.”

Running a ‘one woman’ show, Linton still handles the fabric selection, sewing, patternmaking, fittings alterations and everything else herself. And this is the caveat in the designing process that daunts many Caribbean fashion hopefuls. When your hands are full running the show, how can you then ensure that the end product is fine tuned, and seen by as many people as possible? Whilst Linton is in talks with various manufacturers and a legendary US department store to have her line distributed internationally, her next step will be to secure a design team to help build her atelier, and a fashion merchandising team to make her delightful designs more readily available.

Lisa Laurie Designs (Trinidad)

Fortunately - or unfortunately - it’s not a stretch of the imagination to picture a model sauntering off the runway and onto a movie set or T.V. show. But what about trotting into a sewing room and laying out dress patterns? For Lisa Marie Henry, the designer behind LisaLaurie, it’s simply a fulfillment of a long nurtured desire for design. “I actually studied dressmaking and tailoring at the John Donaldson Technical Institute” the lithesome designer revealed. A past ‘Face of Shabeau Magazine’ winner and Miss T&T 2006 contestant, the model teamed up with sister Laurie Henry to launch an eponymous line at the Makin’ Style fashion event in 2006.

“We design clothing for confident and bold women, who are multifaceted and can appreciate the simplicity of some of our pieces, and also women who are not too shy to try a stronger statement-making garment,” Henry shared. And for such women, there’s an abundance of ‘stronger statement-making’ pieces in the LisaLaurie line to choose from. The 2008 collection features a range of almost performance level, flamenco-styled gowns with layers of tiered tulle and glitzy taffeta, which isn’t out of their range, considering that LisaLaurie designs pageant gowns for local competitions.

If anything, it’s this very range that may be an issue for the LisaLaurie line. The designs totter between the opposing styles of costume wear and everyday looks, and lean heavily towards the dramatic. Indeed, the line may be better suited for the stage than for a formal event, though there are a few pieces (like the number featured here) that are worthy of an evening out. Fans of the designers can get a few ready-to-wear pieces at the LisaLaurie showroom in St. Augustine, though the majority of their pieces are custom made garments for private clients.

Camesha Powell Jamaica

“Your designs should be in Hollywood!” Poshe Designs is barely a year old, but the line has already garnered that stellar stamp of approval from international superstars EVE and Vanessa Williams. Premiering the collection at the 2008 Caribbean Fashion Week, Camesha Powell crafted the line to reflect the pink, black and white colours of her logo, along with her “feminine, flirty and fun” fashion aesthetic.

Venturing into the regional fashion world after gaining her degree in Marketing and International Business, it’s clear that Powell approaches design as both an entrepreneur and a designer.

Poshe Designs

Whilst the Poshe Designs site is in the works, Powell is moving forward by promoting the brand through means that aren’t capital based. “My marketing strategies include doing P.R. through newspapers, magazines and fashion websites, as well as sourcing radio and television interviews. I make use of online social communities such as Facebook, where I’ve got a group called ‘Poshe by Camesha Powell’, Fadmashion.com where my profile and designs are exposed to retailers and international media representatives and Fashionspace.com.

It helps that the flirty goods Powell promotes are actually desirable. Skirts are cut up-to-there and boast delicate ruffles and shoulder detail, whilst pant suits and dresses either stun the senses in dizzying black-on-white prints or grab your attention in searing shades of pink. Utilizing a range of materials from jersey and cotton, to silk/rayon and organza, with this colour combination walks the line between repetition and boldness without ever being boring. What’s next for Poshe? “Well, the collection is available at boutiques in Jamaica, but I want to extend to Martinique, Bahamas, Trinidad & Tobago and Los Angeles in the near future.”

Stacey Smith Trinidad

For Stacy Smith, the fourth time may be the charm. Over the course of her 11 year style career, the self taught designer tried her hand at a basic collection, a party line and a swimsuit range before getting the encouragement from Trinidadian runway coach and event coordinator Richard Young to step out with her most recent designs. “I’ve done about three shows already but the real push came when I met Richard,” she remembers. “The swimsuits were being featured as the only thing that I designed so I stopped doing those. In fact, I tend to call those lines ‘trial collections’ because they featured pieces that I wouldn’t necessarily put in a regular line.”

Now working on promoting her latest collection of colourful cotton day dresses, Smith is ready to put the time and effort into this venture. “This is a really young line that came into being about three months ago for my debut at the Trinidad and Tobago Fashion Week. I was pregnant at the time and couldn’t find clothes to fit, so I started to make items for myself and the collection sort of grew from that.” With a humble and focused approach, Smith sticks to her love of simplicity in design and bright colours. “Patterns confuse me! I prefer to patch different pieces of cloth together as accents for my pieces and my signature is incorporating the bright colours, really.”

The home-based designer is looking forward to expanding her line whilst sticking to her basics. “Right now I work out of my house in San Juan, but I’m actually developing a website so that I can have an online store.” This is a great step for Stacy but her approach to development must be focused on making her patched pieces and brights synonymous with the ‘Stacy Smith’ brand and on defining herself as a designer with staying power.

- LMN Harris