Démodé - Will the 10th Anniversary of BBFW lead to change in our fashion industry?
There was once a view espoused by Trinidadian blogger Stephanie Ramlogan that fashion, particularly Caribbean fashion, needs to evolve past the idea of fashion as entertainment. As I took in the tenth year of BB Fashion Week (BBFW) I began to reflect on this idea. To further expound on this idea, I believe that in order for fashion to be taken seriously by the general public, “Sam, Pooch and de duppy” to use a Barbadian euphemism, the Barbadian fashion industry needs to eschew this idea of fashion shows as a form of entertainment. Simply put, our local fashion industry must evolve if it wants to survive.
While we all love to love fashion, the creative collections and expressions of talented designers, the love usually ends there. Behind the camera flashes and the glitzy shows, there is the gritty reality of fashion in Barbados that is not acknowledged. Barbadian designers often have to create collections out of pocket, with limited selections of suitable fabric available locally (all eyes on you Abed’s), compounded by avenues to promote their product being in short supply. Barbadians are always keen to see fashion but that doesn’t always translate into them paying designers for pieces.
The problem is exacerbated by the commonly held view that a designer is a seamstress and a seamstress is a designer. These are two very distinct but honoured professions, but they are most certainly not the same. For example, designers have spoken of clients who have come in, brushed past their collections and produced a paparazzi image of Rihanna on their phones and asked for her outfit to be recreated. “You could mek dah fuh me?” is inevitably a disheartening phrase but one that may ultimately get the bills paid. But for a designer, that way is slow suicide.
That’s just one aspect of the fashion industry. There are many working parts such as models, stylists, photographers, makeup artists (MUAs) and hairdressers who are all inextricably linked. Barbadian fashion needs to evolve past the idea of cute shows to a functioning ecosystem with mutually beneficial symbiotic relationships so everyone can survive and succeed and not parasitic ones where one part of the system cannibalizes the others to ensure its survival.
In the 10th anniversary of BB Fashion Week, we must take a moment to applaud the team behind BBFW for their perseverance at powering this fashion event for a decade. A successful show is no easy feat, made up of many disparate parts and requiring the proper management of elements such as models, designers, makeup artists, stylists, hair stylists and backstage. It is a mark of achievement to be able to produce a show that has lasted so long, particularly in a notoriously fickle arena such as fashion. However, after a decade chinks still remain in the armour of this fashion juggernaut, with the show making amateur mistakes that could be excused in the second or third year but are pitiable considering this is the tenth year.
Gone are the days of the grandiose affairs at hosted under the iconic Concorde. Gone are the presentations of talented designers such as Simon Foster, Kesia Estwick, Alexis Campbell, Rykii De Jude and Janelle Forde. Gone are the host of regional and international designers such as Mark Eastman, Kimon Baptiste, Makisa Lewis, Charles Dieujuste and Carol Fraser. This year’s presentation did have a noticeable lack of regional and international designers, which was a disappointment as it is interesting to see creative creations from our sister islands. While the Hilton provides a luxurious feel to the events, there is always the sense that BBFW has not reached its full potential. I had hoped that BBFW would one day rise to become the Lesser Antilles answer to Caribbean Fashion Week in Jamaica but this 10th year has caused me to shelve that dream. BBFW seems to be content with a moderate following when it has the potential to be a Caribbean fashion powerhouse and a potential source of foreign capital.
While the show was enjoyable to watch, it was lamentable that there was no attempt to close the divide between the audience and the designers. Designers were introduced and the audience was not informed as to what was the designer’s theme, what was the designer’s influence or what were they trying to convey with the collection. How would it be possible to review a collection with no idea about it? Just clothes being thrown down the runway at the audience, no apparent rhyme nor reason. This did not lend to a connection between the audience and the clothing. We weren’t given an idea of how we could possibly contact designers, whether email address, phone number, website, Facebook or even and Instagram profile should we desire one of the pieces. Perhaps BBFW could have approached a printing company or a sponsor to have brochures printed, providing all the information for the various designers gracing the runway. It was a shame that the hostess Kari was only present for the last night and that she wasn’t given a information about the various collections to read out as they went down the runway.
Models at the event were placed at a disadvantage similar to the designers. So few models have, or can afford, agents or managers to market and promote them. It would’ve been nice for BBFW to have an online or social media based database where models could be showcased should advertisers, scouts or editors be interested in booking them. That way BBFW could give its models opportunities both on and off the runway and be a platform for models to step into advertising or editorial work, thereby raising the prestige of being able to walk for BBFW. There may also be the opportunity for models to be scouted from regional or international agencies as well.
I can only hope that the models were paid for their time, or at least fed and watered, as it is a common thing to ask models to participate in these events for free due to lack of a budget. The common incentive to catch models is ‘opportunities and exposure’ when both are in short supply, particularly given our depressed economy. I will not touch on how our local fashion industry has chewed up and spat out many willing and eager models because it is rife with exploitation and chicanery; that is an article in and of itself. While I understand that paying models can quickly become expensive the more that you include, it is a disservice to the entire industry when local shows ask models to work for free just for a “Thank You”. Sadly the practice is all too common. A move must be made to a system where everyone can benefit from these fashion shows and the days of models, especially young models, being exploited brought to an end.
I will also lament the way that media was treated at BBFW, as is the problem at so many events. Lumped all together in a tiny square at the bottom of the runway, videographers and photographers jostled for the best position, with a small raised platform for the spotlight. Additionally the lighted columns at the bottom of the runway meant that photographers could only be in this small square to get the best shots. The first night, the amber hue of the spotlight threw every photographer’s shots off, causing much cries of dismay once images were reviewed. Although this was fixed by the second night, it was quite an oversight. By the tenth year, I hoped there would be better provisions for media, such as terraced platforms to maximize the amount of media that could be crammed into one space, with everyone being afforded equal views. While the mood lighting was also a nice touch, flat even lighting on the models would have been better to properly showcase the garments.
Fashion in Barbados has always been and will remain a fledgling industry if it cannot overcome the obstacle as only being seen as a form of entertainment. Fashion events such as BBFW, needs to push the audience from being spectators to consumers, linking designers with retailers. Shows need to be more immersive and interactive, with designers being able to meet and talk with the audience, showcase their best sample work on the best models and be able to sell their brand. Designers must be able to highlight why supporting local designers goes beyond buying something at a store, how quality products are made to last. At the same time, fashion is so much more than designers. The industry is made up of so many symbiotic parts and these all cannot exist on applause and entertainment value. 2015 heralds the time where fashion in Barbados has reached its lowest ebb and it must now face a revamp or overhaul or continue the slow inexorable slide into extinction for our local industry.
To summarise, while fashion shows are all well and fun, there must be a symbiosis between fashion and business, if the multi-billion dollar industry that is global fashion can ever be realised in Barbados or the wider Caribbean. If BBFW 2015 is to be a barometer for the state of the local fashion industry then it clearly shows that our industry has seen better days. Ten years is no flash in the pan and it should be a cause for reflection on part by the BBFW team on what it has achieved and what does it aim to achieve in the future. What will BBFW do in the future to ensure its continued survival and that of the Barbadian fashion scene? That being said, we applaud the tenacity of BBFW for existing a decade and hope that over the next decade it grows and continues to inspire young creative and develops a platform that nurtures, develops and showcases talent that has both local and export potential. If there is one thing that BBFW has shown us over the past 10 years is that Barbados is full of creative talent; the only thing left for us to do is to realize and actualize that creative potential. As Maya Angelou says, “when you know better, you do better”, and since BBFW and the Barbadian fashion industry knows better, it is time for it to do better.