ONE doesn’t have to look far to realise that stereotypes about gender roles are still pervasive in the Jamaican society. In high school, for example, boys aren’t generally encouraged to pursue home economics, and girls aren’t pushed to take up mechanics, electrical engineering or woodwork, for instance.

Those who ignore the status quo are frowned upon, laughed at, labelled ‘weird’, or worse. But that has done very little to deter fourth form student at Ascott High School Khajay Cotterell who placed second in the first staging of WorldSkills Jamaica’s fashion technology competition for regions five and six at Garmex Heart Academy on January 22.

“I have loved fashion since I was a child,” he told the Jamaica Observer. “I would spend hours just sitting and watching my grandmother sew. When she thought I was ready she allowed me to start helping her out, so of course I have been learning from that point, making costumes for children in the community and so on.”

Cotterell said that he is aware of the many names men who pursue fashion as a career are called, but he stressed that he will not be bothered by the negative image that society has painted.

“I know of the things that people say. I hear them, but so far nobody has really picked on me. More than anything though, my mom was very concerned about my career decision. She didn’t want anything to happen to me, but I think realising that I am serious has caused her, over time, to get over it,” he said.

Cotterell’s mother, Kerry- Ann Wilson, admitted that she struggled initially with understanding her son’s infatuation with fashion; every day a part of her hoping that he would change his mind.

“I wasn’t comfortable when he told me that he wanted to do fashion designing. We are in Jamaica and people tend to point fingers on you when you are a boy in a certain field, so I worry for him not because I don’t want him doing it but because of the backlash that accompanies it,” Wilson said.

“So often you hear them say that if you are a man and into fashion you must be gay. But I support him 100 per cent in everything he does and I also have to protect him today. I must say, however, that today he has made us very proud,” she added.

For the competition, contestants had five hours to design and sew their pieces. Cotterel made a pant suit.

“I am very pleased that we were given the opportunity to not only create our work on this stage and at this level, but we have been reminded that there is a market for fashion. We have also been able to gain exposure to the machinery that is used in the industry, to understand the importance of planning and managing our time well,” said Cotterell.

WorldSkills Jamaica Fashion Technology Competition was a two-day event resulting from a partnership with the Ministry of Education and WorldSkills Jamaica to allow students in regions five and six at the secondary level to gain experience through healthy competition while gaining a wealth of knowledge and experience about the world of fashion.