Designer Delia Alleyne pops up at the Shop

(Photo:evening dresses)

Delia Alleyne was one of the first graduates of the University of T&T’s now seven-year-old fashion school. A first of its kind in the region, the school now churns out on average 37 graduates a year, in its two-year diploma and four-year bachelor’s programmes.

This is good for the industry, as it gives talented people a chance they may not have otherwise had. But it also means the field is more competitive than it’s ever been and new designers are searching for different ways to break through.

“The challenge for me is trying to stay afloat in this industry,” said Alleyne, who is probably best known for teaching Project Runway winner Anya Ayoung-Chee to sew. “You’re coming into an industry that is already saturated. Fashion designers are being born every year from [UTT’s] Caribbean Academy of Fashion and Design.”

Alleyne recently launched her second collection to be showcased at The Shop, a retail outlet in Hotel Normandie, St Ann’s, dedicated to local entrepreneurs who design and create their own products. “I’m about giving somebody a chance,” said Charisse Parsons, who runs The Shop after founding it more than a year ago.

“The artisans in this country can’t afford to go to the malls. So I wanted to create this space for them. That’s what it’s all about. They have a space now, and they’re able to push their product.”

Alleyne shares the chic, sparsely decorated two floors of space with more than 100 other producers of a variety of products and with varying levels of fame, including Trinidad Chocolate Factory, Machel Montano, Suite Scents, Michelle’s Bath and Body, Ceramic Creations, Meiling, Bede’s Honey, Tea-licious and The Cloth.

The art entrepreneurs don’t pay rent but have a commission arrangement with The Shop and contracts for different lengths of time that are reviewed upon completion.

Alleyne’s new collection, occupying a rack in a small room with four other clothing collections, jewellery, handbags and hats, is called Let’s Paint and is, she said, inspired by fine art. The collection is reminiscent of pop art in particular. The colour theme is black, white and florescent. Black jackets accented on the shoulder and arm by brightly coloured fabric shaped liked splotches, A-line dresses and shorts in florescent colours, and sleeveless houndstooth cropped tops lined on the edges by bands of bright pink and yellow are among the pieces.

Alleyne said she designs for the woman who is “very bold”, “very daring”, “very confident” and “fearless”.

“She loves to stand out. She loves to make a statement,” said Alleyne, who herself stands out with fuchsia-dyed natural hair pulled up into a puff on top of her head.

Parsons described seeing Alleyne’s work for the first time.

“It was a strong impact. It was so brave. It floored me,” she said. “And that is what drew me to her. I loved it.”

Before her stint at The Shop, Alleyne had used pop up shops—temporary retail events—by herself and with others as another cost-effective way to sell and promote her work. Her work has also been shown at various events. This year she showed at the Panamania in Toronto, the Fashion Gallery at the New York Fashion Week, and at a trade show in Tokyo facilitated by the Tobago House of Assembly for designers from the island.

She survives by teaching part-time at the fashion academy and running her business like a “one man show”.

“I do everything, from my research, to my production, to my marketing,” she said.

“The only thing I don’t do is model and shoot the collections.”

The arrangement like the one she has with The Shop eases some of the pressure.

“It makes it easier because they have people to man the space, to sell the products, to oversee the products. If I’m home creating I can’t be here doing that. So it’s a great, great advantage of being in the space,” she said.

Retail space for local artisans is a growing idea. There are popular regular events like UpMarket in Port-of-Spain, a monthly bazaar of handmade and artisan goods, and a few shops like the recently opened Akimbo in Arima.

Being assured of a space to sell their goods allows artists to focus on other things. Parsons praised Alleyne for the growth she’s shown as a businesswoman and designer since offering her first collection at The Shop earlier this year.

“She hired a photographer. She did her own styling. It was brilliant. It knocked me to the floor,” Parsons said of the launch and promotion of Let’s Paint.

“My pores raised. I said, ‘Girl, well done.’”

Besides offering retail space, Parsons, an interior architect of more than two decades, gives art entrepreneurs encouragement, advice and occasional tough talk. She remembers what is was like to start out in a creative field.

“When you start it’s so hard, and I can’t see that happen to them,” said Parsons of the people she calls “my artisans who I love dearly.”

“I just don’t want it to happen to them,” Parsons said.Read more at:graduation gowns

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