JavaScript is disabled in your web browser or browser is too old to support JavaScript. Today almost all web pages contain JavaScript, a scripting programming language that runs on visitor's web browser. It makes web pages functional for specific purposes and if disabled for some reason, the content or the functionality of the web page can be limited or unavailable.

Tuesday, July 8, 2025

Funk adaptive clothing wows Sando

by

20161010

Adap­tive cloth­ing, de­signed specif­i­cal­ly for peo­ple with var­i­ous types of dis­abil­i­ties or lim­it­ed mo­bil­i­ty, is pos­si­bly the lat­est kid on the in­ter­na­tion­al fash­ion block. It has been iden­ti­fied as a niche mar­ket. Big names like Tom­my Hil­figer and Nord­strom have al­ready jumped on board and brought out adap­tive cloth­ing col­lec­tions. Yet, lo­cal­ly, there's no sign of this in lo­cal stores or our fash­ion run­ways.

How­ev­er last Sun­day, some de­sign­ers from the Caribbean Acad­e­my of Fash­ion De­sign (CAFD) of UTT showed their ver­sa­til­i­ty and took this is­sue head-on. Mod­els, in­clud­ing Athali­ah Samuel and Greer Iton, strut­ted the run­way, wear­ing adap­tive pieces cre­at­ed by var­i­ous de­sign­ers, both promi­nent and rel­a­tive­ly new.

The plan was to de­sign cloth­ing that would make the dai­ly task of dress­ing eas­i­er and even fash­ion­able for the dis­abled while rais­ing funds for the Na­tion­al Cen­tre for Per­sons with Dis­abil­i­ties (NCPD).

Ac­cord­ing to NCPD vice chair Dr Na­tal­ie Dick, the or­gan­i­sa­tion "plans to use its al­lo­ca­tion from the fund-rais­er for the in­stal­la­tion and pur­chase of a se­cu­ri­ty sys­tem for both of its build­ings, the main lo­ca­tion on New Street as well as the Unit of NCPD on Seukaran Street, San Fer­nan­do".

The in­au­gur­al event, ti­tled In­clu­sion Dans La Mode (IDLM), took place at OA­SIS Gar­den Ter­race, Cir­cu­lar Road, San Fer­nan­do. It was col­lab­o­ra­tion be­tween the Na­tion­al Cen­tre for Per­sons with Dis­abil­i­ties (NCPD) and T&T Med­ical As­so­ci­a­tion–cen­tral branch. Re­mark­ably, every­one who took part in the show gave their time for free.

On the run­way that evening, the work of lo­cal de­sign­ers who vol­un­teered their tal­ent and gar­ments free of charge were show­cased. The de­sign­ers in­clud­ed Dar­cel M de Vlugt, Robert An­tho­ny Young (The Cloth) Shaun Grif­fith Perez De­signs, Do­minique La Roche (DLR De­signs Bou­tique), Natasha Athara Lewis, Har­vey Robert­son (CAFD Stu­dent of the Year 2016), and Don­na May Bap­tiste (Coloured Souls).

Fash­ion de­sign­er Do­minique La Roche, de­scribed cre­at­ing pieces for IDLM as "a re­fresh­ing and in­for­ma­tive ex­pe­ri­ence." Har­vey Robert­son, CAFD Stu­dent of the Year 2016, pre­sent­ed his The­sis col­lec­tion, I Am So­ca, which in­clud­ed el­e­ments of adapt­abil­i­ty, main­ly by the use of zip­pers.

Robert­son al­so did adap­tive pieces main­ly for chil­dren, that he gift­ed to the chil­dren who mod­elled the pieces. Ac­cord­ing to him, his pieces are meant to al­low peo­ple with dis­abil­i­ties to be both fash­ion­able and com­fort­able.

An­oth­er one of the de­sign­ers, Natasha Athara Lewis has a phys­i­cal­ly dis­abil­i­ty but has clear­ly not let that stop her, as she al­so showed her ver­sa­til­i­ty at the show.

There was al­so a silent auc­tion of paint­ings, in­clud­ing a few pieces cre­at­ed by pris­on­ers and do­nat­ed by the Ad­min­is­tra­tion of the T&T Prison Ser­vice from their Art Shop of Car­rera Is­land Prison.

�2 For in­for­ma­tion about NCPD's up­com­ing fund-rais­er Tea by the Sea, call them at 657-4363/221-NCPD.


Related articles

Sponsored

Weather

PORT OF SPAIN WEATHER

Sponsored

Today's
Guardian

Publications

A model in a costume from The Lost Tribe’s 2026 presentation Island Circus

A model in a costume from The Lost Tribe’s 2026 presentation Island Circus

KERWIN PIERRE

A model in a costume from The Lost Tribe’s 2026 presentation Island Circus

A model in a costume from The Lost Tribe’s 2026 presentation Island Circus

KERWIN PIERRE

Ringmasters of the Road: Crowds flock to Tribe’s circus-themed band launch

22 hours ago
Students, principal and staff of St David’s RC Primary, along with the UWTT and Scotiabank Foundation teams at the handover of steelpans at the school.

Students, principal and staff of St David’s RC Primary, along with the UWTT and Scotiabank Foundation teams at the handover of steelpans at the school.

Students, principal and staff of St David’s RC Primary, along with the UWTT and Scotiabank Foundation teams at the handover of steelpans at the school.

Students, principal and staff of St David’s RC Primary, along with the UWTT and Scotiabank Foundation teams at the handover of steelpans at the school.

Scotiabank Foundation, United Way donate steelpans

22 hours ago
The Executive of the National Parang Association 2025-27. Back row, from left: Kervin Preudhomme, assistant secretary; Shaquille Headley, committee member; Cheriese Pierre, committee member; Lisa Lee, trustee; Joanne Briggs, PRO; Yarelis Touissant, committee member; William Calliste, trustee. Front row, from left: Jenais Carter, secretary; Alicia Jaggasar, president; Henrietta Carter, vice president; Joseph Bertrand, youth officer. Missing: Kerrylee Chee Chow, treasurer; Chevone Pierre, committee member.

The Executive of the National Parang Association 2025-27. Back row, from left: Kervin Preudhomme, assistant secretary; Shaquille Headley, committee member; Cheriese Pierre, committee member; Lisa Lee, trustee; Joanne Briggs, PRO; Yarelis Touissant, committee member; William Calliste, trustee. Front row, from left: Jenais Carter, secretary; Alicia Jaggasar, president; Henrietta Carter, vice president; Joseph Bertrand, youth officer. Missing: Kerrylee Chee Chow, treasurer; Chevone Pierre, committee member.

The Executive of the National Parang Association 2025-27. Back row, from left: Kervin Preudhomme, assistant secretary; Shaquille Headley, committee member; Cheriese Pierre, committee member; Lisa Lee, trustee; Joanne Briggs, PRO; Yarelis Touissant, committee member; William Calliste, trustee. Front row, from left: Jenais Carter, secretary; Alicia Jaggasar, president; Henrietta Carter, vice president; Joseph Bertrand, youth officer. Missing: Kerrylee Chee Chow, treasurer; Chevone Pierre, committee member.

The Executive of the National Parang Association 2025-27. Back row, from left: Kervin Preudhomme, assistant secretary; Shaquille Headley, committee member; Cheriese Pierre, committee member; Lisa Lee, trustee; Joanne Briggs, PRO; Yarelis Touissant, committee member; William Calliste, trustee. Front row, from left: Jenais Carter, secretary; Alicia Jaggasar, president; Henrietta Carter, vice president; Joseph Bertrand, youth officer. Missing: Kerrylee Chee Chow, treasurer; Chevone Pierre, committee member.

Jaggasar returns as National Parang president

Yesterday
Charles Town junior drummers and dancers take to the stage

Charles Town junior drummers and dancers take to the stage

Charles Town junior drummers and dancers take to the stage

Charles Town junior drummers and dancers take to the stage

Jamaican Maroons celebrate, question land rights

Yesterday