Kelly Rowland at Caribbean Fashionweek, night two, held at the National Indoor Sports Centre, last Saturday night. - PHOTOS BY Winston Sill/Freelance Photographer
R & B star Kelly Rowland rocks the stage at Caribbeaan Fashionweek
A piece from the Red Bull collection designed by Ariel Brown. - PHOTOS BY Winston Sill/Freelance Photo-grapher
This model shows off a piece from the Flower Child collection by designer Kaysian Burke.
One of the all-white pieces from Drena Luna featured at Caribbean Fashionweek
This model shows off a piece from Arlene Martin, also part of Drena Luna, who had an all-white collection that included nicely finished dresses and pants.
Downsound recording artiste Nature performing at the second night of Caribbean Fashionweek
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Designers show-off classy, colourful collections
Sadeke Brooks, Staff ReporterThere were several cohesive collections and a strong African presence at Caribbean Fashionweek last Saturday night at the National Indoor Sports Centre, St Andrew, but it was Kelly Rowland who stole the show despite her shorter-than-expected performance.
The R&B singer took the stage at 12:15 a.m., following a performance by reggae singer Nature.
Upon taking the stage, there were screams as she sang Bump Like This while being accompanied by her smooth-moving male dancers. The audience was near deafening as they sang Dilemma with her. Rowland also gave patrons a piece of her upcoming album in the form of Gone, which is a collaboration with Wiz Khalifa.
She also included some reggae in her set by dancing to Gyptian's Hold Yuh. This was followed by Destiny's Child songs like Independent, Say My Name and Survivor. But when she got to Kisses Down Low, the screams were endless. It was also at that point that she walked down the runway and interacted with the audience.
As she performed, an elderly man kept the audience in the VIP entertained with his pelvis jerking dance moves. Patrons stood as the beat for Motivation started and her male dancers also added quite a bit to the show with their dance moves. Rowland then exited the stage and, despite screams, did not return, encouraging patrons to leave the venue.
Backtrack to the [color:9f42=blue !important][color:9f42=blue !important]fashion [color:9f42=blue !important]show, one of the best collections for the night was Flower Child by Kaysian Burke, as there was never a dull moment during her segment.
She kicked off her line with bathing suits and floor-length [color:9f42=blue !important][color:9f42=blue !important]floral [color:9f42=blue !important]print cover-ups. She also had [color:9f42=blue !important][color:9f42=blue !important]trendy pieces such as crop tops and a leather [color:9f42=blue !important][color:9f42=blue !important]skirt. There were also some classy champagne-coloured pants and [color:9f42=blue !important][color:9f42=blue !important]dresses that found favour with the audience. She utilised black and white at intervals, but one of the biggest round of screaming came when she showed a black and gold printed, high-low dress that was accessorised by a black hat.
Prior to Flower Child, there was a good showing from fellow Jamaican designers like, Angelique Martin who showed Sol by Drena Luna. The bathing suit collection had trunks for men and swimwear of varying styles for women. While Angelique used colours, her sister Arlene Martin, also part of Drena Luna, had an all-white collection that included nicely finished dresses and pants.
Meanwhile, in Ray Williams' Wild and Free collection, there were brightly coloured bathing suits, some of which had tribal prints.
Following the first break, there was a special Red Bull collection that had futuristic pieces made with Red Bull cans that were designed by Ariel Brown. One of the sponsors, Campari, also showed a line of branded bags.
Tigerlily Hill came with the Crown Atelier collection that had earth tones, metallics and leather. All of these pieces were worn with black head gears.
Further in the show, Marcia Nicely showed Designs By Mark, which had mostly bright men shirts and jackets. Later, there were black dresses, but it was the fish tail design that stood out the most. Although difficult for the model to walk in, the dress had mesh on the thighs and was completed by leather tail.
Ann-marie Robinson's Kokobeenz collection wowed the audience in the beginning with a black lace ruffled high-low dress. The designer also used a bit of metallics, as well as fur. Much excitement came later with men and women modelling underwear and lingerie. While the women wore wings on their backs, they didn't get half the cheers the engaging male models got.
Zimbabwe's Sabina Mutsvati came later with colourful dresses, some of which had prints. Most of them also had rings at the hemline. Claudia Pegus showed some shimmer on white pieces. She also used black lace to overlay some sections of her other pieces.
Established designer Barry Moncrieffe was big on bright colours, tie and dye and prints. In some cases, male and female models took the runway in pairs, wearing matching outfits. Three gowns in white, black and red were accessorised by very large head pieces.
The show closed off with three African designers. For Brenda Winstead's Damali Afrikan Wear collection, there was mostly African-inspired dresses. Meanwhile, Mahlet Afework used knits and stripes in the Mafi collection, which also had shorts, pants, sweaters and dresses.
Fikirte Addis designs had splashes of African prints on white dresses. This collection also had knitted pieces
