No better way, we reckon, to settle into Fashion Month than by spotlighting the West Indian Sea Island Cotton Collection by The Cloth. Oh Relaxed Soul,
the label’s inaugural collection in the high-end luxury fashion sector — a union of visions, was created in collaboration with one of the region’s most influential figures in the fashion world, Shala Monroque.

If ever a collection represented the Caribbean this was it! Grown in Barbados, designed in Trinidad & Tobago and shot on location in Saint Lucia #MadeintheCaribbean.

Indeed, since its inception by creative director Robert Young in 1986 the Cloth has not only flourished as a fashion brand, but as a beacon of Caribbean representation within the global design narrative.

One of The Cloth’s founding aspirations is to construct an unbroken 100 per cent made-in-the-Caribbean value chain for West Indian Sea Island Cotton (WISIC), the world’s most precious cotton, which grows solely in the unique biome of our archipelago.

How rare is WISIC? According to Exclusive Cottons of the Caribbean Inc, “Of approximately 110 million bales of cotton made worldwide, only two million bales are of extra-long staple cotton species. Out of this two million bales, only 100 bales are made of the West Indian Sea Island Cotton, whose fibres are 20 per cent longer, making this variety of cotton the rarest in the world.”

Curepe Shirt, Maraval Mist Skirt (left) alongside the Bequia Dress Shala Monroque & Micah Tafari

The Shani dress in voile Model: Kali MonroqueShala Monroque & Micah Tafari

NO CAPTIONShala Monroque & Micah Tafari

Shala Monroque(left) wears the Toco dress in voile. Kali Monroque wears The Cuche dress and Tacarigua trousers both in chiffon. Shala Monroque & Micah Tafari