Designer's styles reflect first nations teachings

Your clothing reflects your lifestyle, says a first nations designer who has created custom designs for royalty, celebrities -- and plenty of regular folks.

"It reflects what's important to you -- your own personal values," says Regina designer Tracey George Heese, who designs under the Timeless Shadows label.

Traditional and contemporary first nations apparel appeals to first nations and non-aboriginals alike.

"It doesn't matter what background you come from," Heese insists.

"The teachings of first nations have to do with harmony and balance. And I really believe that regardless of your nationality, you can reflect that within the clothing that you're wearing."

There's definitely a market for first nations fashion designs, says Heese.

"I believe so. Now that it has become acceptable to be Indian, for one thing. The views of the greater society have improved. And I feel that the clothing has played a role in bringing about that awareness."

There's a huge international market as well, especially in the United States, Germany and Japan, she points out.

Heese is so confident demand for first nations apparel will continue to grow, she plans to work on her master's degree on a topic related to first nations clothing and identity.

Heese currently works full time as a group facilitator for Regina Work Preparation, a non-profit organization helping individuals either find work, go back to school, or get into a program. So for now, creating custom designs is done in her "spare" time. But eventually, Heese says her goal is to transform her design work into a full-time job.

Heese's passion for creating first nations apparel began as a child.

"My grandmother was a beader, and she did moccasins, and outfits, and jewelry, and all kinds of stuff. And she got me stringing beads. I was probably two years old stringing beads -- sitting beside her when she was doing moccasins," she recalls. "So that's where that part -- the desire to bead and design -- comes from."

Heese has been sewing for 28 years.

"It was my mother and my older sister that taught me how to use a sewing machine," she says.

"I really believe that it was my grandmother and the support of my adopted family that has in many ways given me this, with regards to the business designing. They taught me a skill," Heese says. "And I think it's a God-given talent; but I've had to work at it."

She started designing powwow regalia about 14 years ago.

"And that was, in many ways, a reconnection to my heritage -- finding out more about individuals and their colours, their Indian names, their symbols of protection -- that kind of thing, and implementing or including those things into whatever it was I was designing for them. That became my path back to my own personal heritage as well," she says.

Over the years, Heese says about 95 per cent of the first nations apparel/regalia she's designed has been men's ribbon shirts, which range in price from $150 to $250.

"I've lost count as to how many I've done in the last 14 years. I'm sure it's over 500," she estimates.

"And they're all individual. That's the other thing. A lot of the stuff that I love doing is for a specific person for a specific purpose. So, it may be a grad, and it's this young girl and this young guy. Or, it's this gentleman who has this sort of ceremony coming up, and he needs this garment. And then I go to work."

When creating a man's ribbon shirt, it takes her five to seven hours to sew the base of the shirt.

"I may not be a fast sewer, but part of it has to do with making sure that it's right," Heese says, describing herself as a tailor. "There's so much involved."

Knowing the wearer's Indian name and his colours helps Heese decide what fabric to buy.

"And so I go out and buy three metres of that fabric," she says.

She described the creative process: "I first pray. Then I visualize what it is that he's told me [about himself]. And then I begin. Sometimes I'll sketch it out and other times I just go to work. It depends on what it is."

It's crucial to be in the right frame of mind when working on a design, Heese says.

"I really believe that my thoughts and my words go into that garment. So when I'm working on it, I can't be drinking; I can't be grouchy -- because I feel that goes into the garment," she explains.

Every garment has a message, Heese says. "And it reflects the individual."

For women, Heese is best known for her shawls, which range from $300 to $500. One of her shawls was presented to Princess Anne, another to then lieutenant-governor Lynda Haverstock.

Creating a woman's shawl is much like designing a man's ribbon shirt, Heese says.

"I think of the individual. I pray about it. I generally will smudge all the materials from the scissors to the space that I'm in creating that garment," she says.

Inspiration can come from the individual or from the materials being used.

"It shows itself to me, and I see that's what I'm supposed to make," Heese says.

For shawls, she uses ribbons, shells, fringe, applique work, and bead work.

Her ribbon shirts have featured everything from hide to elk teeth, porcupine quills, horse hair, shells, bone beads, beads, ribbons and fringe.

At this point, Heese says she can still work with all colours.

"Some people have found that black is a difficult colour to work with, depending on which tribe you're from," she explains. " I happen to be Cree, and in the Cree culture, black many times can represent death. And that's why some women have a difficult time working with it. But I've also been taught black means 'night' and black also means 'victory.' "

For Heese, coming up with the design is the most enjoyable part of the creative process. Actually putting the garment together is the most difficult, she says.

"Staying true to the vision that I have in my head or on paper, that's the most difficult."

Source: Canada.com

Manish Malhotra’s Spring and Summer Collection mesmerizes Dubai

Manish Malhotra, India’s leading celebrity fashion designer and style icon, unveiled his Spring and Summer Collection yesterday at the Manish Malhotra Store in Jumeirah, Dubai. Stamped by Manish Malhotra’s signature ethnic-inspired design, keen detailing and sensual silhouettes, the new collection offers relaxed functionality and classy style for the fashion savvy shopper.

Senior executives from Saif Belhasa Group of Companies, along with VIP guests, and customers expressed their immense appreciation for the designer’s latest creations during the event.Manish Malhotra’s Spring and Summer collection, also referred to as the Diffusion Collection 2007, is an amalgamation of the rich and diverse culture of Rajasthan and Texas, both with a very strong individual flavour and yet blending in to create a chic fusion line.

The garments reflect the rugged feel of Texas through colours like Beige, Oyster, Off-white and are very well combined with the bright colours of Rajasthan like coral reds, greens, purples, and yellows for surface ornamentation. The line also has creations which incorporate a Texan style use of leather and suede combined with Rajasthani gold and silver Gotta border finishes.

The silhouettes with a very international and rodeo-driven like appeal have variations in shirt dresses, shirts, dresses and others, which have been delicately created by using fabrics ranging from linens, stretch cottons, jersey to cotton silks.

"Spring and summer clothes need to be comfortable yet stylish and elegant to complement the wearer. My latest collection, which blends attractive color palettes, exquisite textiles and eye-catching cuts, is appropriate to the season and cater to the tastes of a cosmopolitan crowd on the hunt for trendy outfits. It has always been a tremendous pleasure to offer visitors a peek at my latest apparels here in Dubai, which is an affluent and sophisticated market," said Manish Malhotra.

The launch of the Spring and Summer collection follows Manish Malhotra’s successful participation at The Bride Show Dubai 2007 where the designer garnered acclaim for the avant-garde wedding dresses targeted at the modern bride. Bollywood stars Urmila Matondkar and Arjun Rampal led models on the ramp to display the designer’s collection, which was rich in embroidery and ornamentations as a nod to traditional fashion and modified to fit the tastes of the contemporary bride.

The attires highlighted the accomplished designer’s vast experience in meeting the needs of brides all over the world including Dubai, Antwerp, London, Singapore, Spain and America."Manish Malhotra has maintained a reputation in the region for incorporating the best of traditional Indian, Arabian and contemporary style, featuring ethnic chic, sensual elegance and relaxed glamour with his newest Spring and Summer collection. His designs have been a major hit in Dubai and other GCC countries, which is evident from the fact that his store in Dubai constantly attracts customers from across the region," said Sarah Rashid, Vice Chairman, Saif Belhasa Group.

With over 16 years in the industry, Manish Malhotra has received 22 prestigious awards and has a clientele that includes leading stars in India and Hollywood such as Reese Witherspoon for the film Vanity Fair, Michael Jackson, Jean Claude Van Damme and Naomi Campbell. The Manish Malhotra Store in Jumeirah was launched in 2006 by the designer and Saif Belhasa Group of Companies.

Featuring luxurious garments and accessories for Indian, Arabic and Western clients, the upscale boutique also carries the trademark Manish Malhotra skirts, tunics, corsets, kurtas, sarees and dresses in bright colors and prints along with a range of designer shelas, abhayas and jalabiyas.About Manish Malhotra: Manish Malhotra is one of India’s most famous fashion designers and has been working with some of the biggest names in Bollywood.

He is known for his different style and his ability to envision a ’look’ for the character. His clients include all the leading Bollywood actresses and several international celebrities such as Michel Jackson, Jean Claude, Van Damme, Reese Witherspoon and Naomi Campbell.

Manish has also designed for weddings all over the world, including Antwerp, London, Singapore, Spain, America and Dubai. He has been involved with the costume designing industry for over 16 years and has won 22 awards, most recently being awarded the Hall of Fame award for contributing to Fashion in films at the recently held fashion awards in Mumbai.

Source: dubaicityguide

West Indies: Caribbean Fashion Week ends with fabulous fashion colours

KINGSTON: The Caribbean Fashion Week being scheduled here in the city at the National Indoor Sports Centre from June 06-10 2007 ended on a note of colour, funk and fabulous fashion.

Although the event started a bit late, it ran smoothly as the models strutted their stuff in a wide selection of creative pieces.

The designer Peter Elias from Trinidad and Tobago with his female collection opened the show. Elias’ collection had the island feel, with long often flowing dresses that were tied around the models and utilised lots of beige, green, white and blue mixed on sheer material that floated around the models.

On the other spectrum of fashion was Keneea Linton who has obviously grown into her own, using more diverse colours and designs since last year’s fashion week, while the Linton’s look appeals to a more funk driven younger audience with a lot of zebra prints combined with hot pinks in short shorts, skirts and dresses.

Further, some dresses were ’80s styled such as pleated blue baby doll dresses, a Madonna style cupped breast top with a yellow skirt and some outfits were set for the high seas with blue deck shorts. Her last pieces shown were more mature with long dresses with sexy cuts at the top in orange, purple and green with yellow.

Luna Designs was all about nature and with mainly wrap skirts accompanied by brown bikini style tops, while Luna Designs accessorised with a lot of shell and bead jewelery. Most of the designs were very light, cool and often lightly trimmed with bright colours such as purple and yellow which really set off the dresses and skirts.

Yardman offered up a pure casual look with mainly male fashion featuring hoodies, T-shirts and jeans with ‘Yardman’ and ‘Kingston’ written all over it and young designer, Gavin Douglas really impressed the crowd with European style couture and used a lot of unique and interesting colours such as mustard yellow, deep purples and peacock feathers on very metallic looking material.

The veteran designer, Barry Moncrieffe featured a variety of cultures, such as African, Indian, Chinese and Caribbean themed outfits and with a few pieces in his classic black and white, Moncrieffe combined black and white stripes with polka dots in classy, long dresses.

Other standouts were the use of a lot of African prints, Indian long beaded skirts and Chinese style button front tops. Bajan designer Wayne Smith also had an evening dress appeal with his ‘Island Spice’ collection.

Island Spice featured long dresses in green, leopard print and many more. Their blending of colours was very well done, making the garments interesting. The material was sheer and oftentimes sexy. One long purple dress had a very unique accessory, with a necklace made of purple orchids.

Francis Hendy brought 1950s and ’60s back to men’s wear. He utilised a lot pinstripes in pants and tops, as well as patterns. After a brief break, Pulse took a minute out to honour a pioneerof costume designs in Trinidad – Peter Minshall.

Fashion designer, Claudia Pegus fascinated by frills, Pegus’ shirts and skirts were often frilled, and very vibrant, a bit carnivalesque colour scheme. She used a lot of deep gold to give a Egyptian feel to some dresses, which had an overall fun feel. Bill Edwards was mainly back to the men, with very comfortable looking slacks and shirts with leafy patterns.

Ending with a flair that had audience standing and applauding were designs from Romanian Catalin Ebotezatu. Ebotezatu had very sexy glittery and featured filled evening gowns which were sheer in the right places exposing the models sexily and overall had a very exotic feel.

Source: bharattextile

Models, designers arrive in Antigua to heat up runway

From their chic shoes to stylish dos, the models and designers who are going to join forces with the Insomnia models to sizzle the runway tomorrow night are already turning heads. Stepping out from the arrival lounge with style and presence, already people waiting on other arriving passengers could be heard asking, “A who dem dey?”

Arriving yesterday were the Thorough Bred models from St. Kitts/Nevis, regional super model the 2005 Miss Hawaii Tropics Suilika Buchanan, also from St. Kitts, the models from Model Image by CBO from Curacao, and fashion designer Kiasha Peters from St. Martin.

Except for the models from Curacao, the other delegates are all returning participants, including Thorough Bred model Beko Lapsey, who's been a model for the last five years.

Smiling broadly, he expressed his eagerness to work with the Insomnia models again and the Caliente producers. Particularly loving to please the women in the audience, he's promising a platinum performance this year.

One of the managers to accompany the Thorough Breds, Vaughn Anslyn spoke of the level of professionalism in the production of last year's show, and with the expansion of the production to include more designers and models, he was more than willing to have his guys participate once again.

Also commenting on the level of professionalism that the show exhibited on and off the runway, regional super model Suilika Buchanan smiled broadly as she told of her great experience last year.

"Rickerson and I share the same passion and vision to see Caribbean models taken seriously by the rest of the world ... there's no reason that our models can't be Victoria Secrets models and the like ... so anything to promote the fashion industry and especially the Caribbean modelling industry I'm more than willing to support," she shared.

Opening up some more, and believe me she's very down to earth and willing to share the spotlight with other up-and-coming models.

More than happy to share a few tips with present and future models, she advises that you never stop modelling. On the runway, she laughs as she admits that she's knock-kneed, but says, "It's important not to make your knees touch.

"You also need to know exactly what the designer expects from you. You need to respect the designer and their clothes, so never ever tell a designer that you don't like his work."

At 22 years, being active in the industry for six years, Suilika has a charismatic personality that will make you feel like you're chatting with a girlfriend, but when the camera focuses, she steps into full professional mode as she sashays for the camera.

For the Model Image by CBO models, this is their first major fashion show in the region, and they're all looking forward to showing Antigua exactly what they've got. Already poised to alight the runway, these young people are following their dreams and the fight for Caribbean models to be taken seriously.

Although she could easily be taken for a model, this "Knitty Kitty" will be showcasing new sexy knittable wears. From swimsuits to dresses this fashion diva from St. Martin already knows how to make a runway sizzle.

Designer Kaisha Peters attended last year's Caliente, and, expressing her pleasure of working with professionals such as Rickerson, could not miss this year's show. Reuniting with some of last year's participants at the show, they gave their own show at the airport as people watched the colourful group with curiosity.

Enjoying the reunion with fellow members of the fashion fraternity, the common interest of making Caliente 4 "Sashay" a success was without question.

If you'd like to see these models and designers "sashay" the runway, don't miss the fashion event of the year at the Multi-purpose Cultural and Exhibition Centre at 8:30 p.m. Tickets can be purchased at The Source or It Clothing Store.

Source: antiguasun