/ARTS WEEKLY/CULTURE: Caribbean Fashion Designers Seek Support from Leaders

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Howard Campbell

KINGSTON, Nov 19 2002 (IPS) - Some big players in the Caribbean fashion industry

say the regional scene will glow with the glamour of Paris and Milan only

if they get support from the political and business communities.

Twenty-five designers from five nations were in Kingston earlier this

month for the second running of the three-day Caribbean Fashionweek.

As was the case in 2001, it was generally a low-key affair. Though the

shows on Saturday were well attended, two of the showcases on opening day

were cancelled because some of the designers were absent.

Trinidad and Tobago’s Claudia Pegus, whose work has been shown in Europe

and North America, says while she is optimistic that Caribbean Fashionweek

will eventually be on par with similar events in New York, London and

Milan, such growth is impossible if Caribbean Community (CARICOM) leaders

don’t give support.

?In the Caribbean, fashion is not looked upon as an industry, it’s

looked upon as entertainment, and not entertainment for monetary gains but

for leisure,? she said. ?We need to shift that focus.?

According to Pegus, while a calendar of shows is important exposure for

designers, the backing of the corporate sector is even more significant for

artists struggling to manufacture their products on a mass scale.

Like their colleagues in Jamaica, the garment industry in Trinidad and

Tobago has taken a beating because of the high cost to produce in volumes,

she said. As a result, many factories have closed and forced some designers

to call it a day.

This is where the petite Pegus believes networking is pivotal. ?It

doesn’t make sense for you to be a good designer but you can’t take orders

because you can’t manufacture, or for you to be a manufacturer with 600

machines and you can’t do anything because you are not competitive,? she

said. ?We need to create strategic alliances.?

Les Campbell, one of Jamaica’s leading designers, agrees with Pegus. He

says he has struggled to make a name for himself in his homeland since

returning to Jamaica in the 1970s from Canada, where he lived for 12 years

and studied fashion design.

Campbell says with Jamaican stores preferring to sell leading North

American urban brand names like Tommy Hilfiger and FUBU, or cheap goods out

of Asia, there is little interest by owners to showcase the products of

local designers like himself.

?There’s no help for us,? he adds.

Where regional designers could get a lift, Pegus believes, is from

high-profile sports and entertainment personalities, such as cricketer

Brian Lara or deejay Shaggy, endorsing their line. But again, she says,

such a marriage would be meaningless without corporate backing.

?I couldn’t afford to pay Brian Lara what Pepsi-Cola could pay him,? she

said. ?But if I got a sponsor who says they want to buy the rights to my

name and take my product to Japan or somewhere else to reproduce it in the

millions then we could afford to pay someone like Lara or Ato Boldon (a

Trinidadian sprinter).?

Though Pegus’ parents hoped she would pursue a career in law or

medicine, she majored in education while at university. Yet, she says she

always loved fashion and left Trinidad for Europe in the late 1970s to

chart a life in haute couture, receiving training in Barcelona, Spain and

Bavaria in Germany.

She lived in Germany for over a decade and enjoyed relative success

there, before returning to Trinidad in 1997 to launch her Claudia Pegus

Frederick Street store and line.

While disgruntled at the slow pace at which regional fashion is moving,

the Pegus line has done well: it is sold in major American cities including

New York, Los Angeles and Miami and she retains a presence in Germany and

Switzerland.

Seeing the work of fellow Caribbean designers take off in similar

fashion is her biggest objective. ?I’m very much interested in seeing the

growth of the industry from a business side,? she said. ?We have a lot of

talent here, but if you don’t have the support, talent means nothing.?