By: Staff Writer
January 5, 2020
A Guyanese luxury designer says she gets to define what luxury means through her lenses and based on her culture.
Keisha Edwards, owner/operator of ShaSha Designs, told Caribbean Magazine Plus about what got her into fashion and what drives her. She said: “Fashion choose me. It was always something that came naturally to me and after graduating from the University of Guyana in 2009 with a degree in Sociology and no job offers. I had to turn my passion into a business that could provide for my economic needs as well as sustaining itself.”
owner/operator of Shasha desigs
Ms Edwards said that while the fashion industry within the region has not been around for 100 years, “for me as a young Caribbean designer I get to define what luxury means to me through my lenses based on my culture. Resort, street, urban wear etc can all be luxury. At Shasha Designs we create all of those types of clothing along with traditional and unconventional bridal wear understanding that luxury isn’t only about style or fabric it’s about quality, detail and finishing.”
Bridal wear is the hottest “niche” market for Ms Edwards with consistent sales is the bridal wear where she said “it is our most frequently requested items.” ShaSha has clients throughout the region and the world but the majority of her client base is in Guyana.
She also said however, “It’s important to be aware of your fashion seasons in the region as well as in your own country and during the months of February and May, festival/ resort type wear is needed for persons to attend Mashramani and Carnival events in Guyana. A lot of tourist and persons from the diaspora return to Guyana for these events. During these periods there is spike in sales for persons wanting unique festival/ carnival/ resort type wear clothing to attend these parties.”
Ms Edwards was awarded the Excellence and Fashion Innovation award from the Caribbean Style and Culture Committee in 2016 where she said she was “excited and humbled, that opportunity allowed for me to meet so many talented designers from the region.”
“One of my goals in life is to help further develop the fashion industry in Guyana and by extension the Caribbean and being recognized on this platform opened doors for integration, networking, and collaboration for me with designers within Guyana and the region.”
Explaining where she sees the fashion industry in the region trending in the next 10 years, s Edwards said: “Ten years ago, the industry lacked/ had few bloggers, photographers, stylists, illustrators, branding/marketing experts, workshops etc within the Caribbean region. Fast forward to present and the industry is slowly occupying these roles.”
However, l see that new roles, new brands are still emerging despite COVID-19. Everyone has taken a hit; nonetheless Caribbean people are resilient, and creatives are finding new ways to pivot their businesses.”
“For the next 10 years I see development steady and consistent however due to COVID-19 for the first few years shopping will be need based and some designers will be scaling back if they haven’t already. There will be more collaborations as a way of cutting cost helping to build industry relationships. However big impact and change is only possible if we work together and the industry receives funding and is supported by all the regions heads of government.”
Young people should get into fashion as a way of retelling their stories while preserving Caribbean culture. “Aside from the fact that they are the future, young people can transform these stories bringing fresh perspective and new ideas to a collection and industry. Making it modern, innovative, and appealing to the current time,” said Ms Edwards.
Clothing and apparel will always be with us because from “the day you were born until the day you die you will need clothing, and the task of the designer is to know who their demographic is and figure out what their needs are and provide them.”
“In order for the fashion industry within the region to become a viable sustainable one. The roles within the industry as it relates to production must be filled. On the production side we need textile designers, garment technologist, pattern makers/ grader persons who can create patterns using CAD as well as persons who can create technical packages for production, sample makers and stichers.”
You can see more of Keisha’s fabulous designs at here website: https://www.shashadesigns.com/ or on Facebook: