The tenth edition of Fashionista STT promises to have fashion fans seeing double. Twin high fashion models are expected to strut the catwalk Sunday night at the Mark Marin Center at Antilles School. Since 2009, a local promoter has brought a high fashion experience to those who like to keep up with current fashion trends.
Promoter Ishmael Queeley says the appearance of fashion model twins Erin and Desiree Green is a highlight of the event, called Perfection in Paradise. Erin, a 43 year-old grandmother, recently appeared as a contestant on the popular reality show, America’s Next Top Model.
As an ultra stylish pair, the Green Twins led a Michigan workshop for men and women seeking careers in the fashion industry called Model Up with the Green Twins. Their appearance in the Virgin Islands comes at a time when Fashionista, St. Thomas becomes part of a lifestyle tv show called Fashionista Now Boarding.
The show follows luxury market travelers as they span the world in search of trendy designers showcasing their latest creations. They also stage destination events at Fashion Week events in the U.S. and abroad.
“Fashionista Now Boarding is a tv show from Los Angeles. The Department of Tourism in 2016 brought in a tv production company to shoot Fashionista. They took it back to the (Los Angeles) market. We got 16 million viewers,” Queeley said.
And, he said, Tourism is sponsoring the local fashion weekend again. The venues to see and be seen begin Friday night with the Moonlight Escape Yellow and White Boat Ride on board the glass bottom boat, the Kon Tiki.
A Saturday gala is planned to honor the SPARKS youth motivation club and its founders. Virgin Islands First Lady Yolanda Bryan and former First Lady Cecile de Jongh, along with Bahamas First Lady Patricia Minnis are expected to appear as honorees.
Island Fashion Week in the Bahamas is one of several Caribbean destinations hosting Fashion Week events, similar to Fashionista. Organizers of similar events in the Cayman Islands, Aruba, the British Virgin Islands and the high end extravaganza, Jamaica’s Caribbean Fashion Week, express motives similar to Queeley’s.
“The idea behind bringing designers and models together is to expose them to the fashion industry,” he said, regionally and globally. There are already signs that island style – the designers and models who bring it to life – is making it into the mainstream.
On the U.S. mainland, Caribbean Catwalk Fashion Shows are a feature at Boston Fashion Week. There is also the Boston Caribbean Fashion Week, Caribbean New York Fashion Week, the Carib-New York Fashion Week and the International Swim Fashion, Fashion Week.
Queely said throughout the year, when not promoting his own annual showcase, he is working to send his featured designers and models to appear at some of those shows. Among them are St. Croix designer Gregory Etienne, model Janae Massac and her mother, designer Sandra Massac. A potential feature appearance at the swim fashion show could include a swimwear collection by Allen Summer Collection.
Fashion fans locally can see their works when Fashionista 2019 takes to the runway at Mark Marin Center, starting Sunday at 6 p.m.
Event sponsors include the Department of Tourism, West Indies Corporation, Dish TV, Subway, Mazda of St. Thomas, Color Max, Native Son, PG Gas, and WSTA Radio. For ticket information, call 340-277-0038.
