The life and work of late Trinida­di­an fash­ion pho­tog­ra­ph­er Calvin French were cel­e­brat­ed on Ju­ly 26 with the launch of a com­mem­o­ra­tive pho­tog­ra­phy book chron­i­cling his con­tri­bu­tion to the lo­cal fash­ion and cre­ative in­dus­tries.

Fash­ion de­sign­ers, mem­bers of the diplo­mat­ic corps, cre­atives and oth­er dis­tin­guished guests gath­ered at the Art So­ci­ety of Trinidad and To­ba­go in Fed­er­a­tion Park, Port-of-Spain, for the launch of Calvin French: Icon Be­hind The Lens.

Host­ed by Ashvin Bal­ly, Pe­ter Elias and Cyn­thia Fer­nan­des, the event paid trib­ute to French, whose work be­hind the cam­era helped shape the vi­su­al lan­guage of Trinidad and To­ba­go’s fash­ion in­dus­try.

The evening al­so fea­tured a fash­ion pre­sen­ta­tion show­cas­ing de­signs by Elias and Clau­dia Pe­gus. Mu­si­cal per­for­mances by Wendy Shep­pard, Alethea Be­har­ry and pi­anist Ca­mal Win­ches­ter were al­so pre­sent­ed pro bono as part of the trib­ute to French’s artis­tic lega­cy.

The pub­li­ca­tion was co­or­di­nat­ed by Fer­nan­des and Wendy Fitzwilliam, while Elias un­der­took the task of archiv­ing French’s pho­to­graph­ic col­lec­tion. Bal­ly al­so played a lead­ing role in ef­forts to pre­serve and doc­u­ment French’s lega­cy.

The book fea­tures a se­lec­tion of French’s pho­tographs, cap­tur­ing the fash­ion, beau­ty and per­son­al­i­ties that de­fined much of his ca­reer.

Be­yond cel­e­brat­ing his work, the pub­li­ca­tion al­so seeks to ex­tend French’s lega­cy through char­i­ta­ble giv­ing. Pro­ceeds from sales will ben­e­fit the Trinidad and To­ba­go Can­cer So­ci­ety, Promise House TT and Vi­tas House, in recog­ni­tion of the com­pas­sion­ate pal­lia­tive care pro­vid­ed to French dur­ing his ill­ness.

French died on Sep­tem­ber 20, 2018.

Eight years af­ter his death, Icon Be­hind The Lens of­fers a last­ing record of the pho­tog­ra­ph­er’s con­tri­bu­tion while in­tro­duc­ing his work to a new gen­er­a­tion.

The book is avail­able at Pe­ter Elias WM, Meil­ing, Clau­dia Pe­gus, Hair by Bal­ly, Pa­per Based Book­shop and Kitchen Cor­ner.