The biggest name in Caribbean fashion is certainly Oscar de la Renta, but come June of each year, the region’s style influencers gather on The Rock for a week of fabulous celebration. We celebrate what’s ours, that certain je ne sais quoi that truly makes us who we are: the wonder, colour and passion of our designers at Caribbean Fashion Week (CFW). SO presents a stylish portrait of some of our favourites who continue to rock the region’s runways.

Earl ‘Biggy’ Turner

Internationally acclaimed designer Biggy was one of the first to showcase a collection on the Caribbean Fashion Week runway when he made his debut in 2001. Biggy burst onto the scene with a fresh idea — showing the world just how fashionable denim could be — especially when flavoured with the vitality and colour of dancehall — and has never looked back.

Meiling Esau

Trinidad & Tobago’s darling, Meiling Esau, has for decades ranked among the region’s best designers. She first introduced her line on the runway of Caribbean Fashion Week in 2004 and is best known for the tranquil aura created by her use of natural fabrics and a sophisticated, minimalist approach to fashion. In fact, one need only hark back to last week’s SO, which features the Trini doyenne’s Noir collection.

Peter Minshall – Mas’ Man and Mentor

Guyana-born, Peter Minshall, is a Trinidad native. The self-proclaimed “Mas’ man” is an artist like no other; his work meeting much critical acclaim in England and the United States. The Barcelona and Atlanta Olympic games are only a few of the places his Carnival designs have been featured.

In 2002 he was in Jamaica to offer his talent to the sculpture park at the University of Technology. His trip in 2004 though, held a different agenda. For the first time, acclaimed Trinidadian designer Meiling was showing at Caribbean Fashion Week. Not only was Minshall a close friend, he was also a mentor. They have remained intimate since 1983, when Meiling began working with the Emmy Award-winning costume designer, on his Carnival productions and other artistic presentations.

Catch A Fire

We saw Cedella Marley’s Catch A Fire become an instant hit when she first exhibited in 2002, but it was the scorching hot comeback collection in 2005 that stood out in the minds of many. Shiny bikinis, funky accessories, bold prints, structured jackets and Rasta colours permeated this unforgettable collection. After a three-year hiatus, Cedella was well-armed with an appropriately titled theme song, Catch A Fire Dem Comeback, by her brother Damian. And with models sashaying down the runways puffing away at marijuana ‘spliffs’ in cigarette holders, the Marley influence/mystic on her fabulous designs was without a doubt blowing in the wind.

Gavin Douglas

It was quite an affair when Vogue-acclaimed British designer Gavin Douglas hit the Caribbean Fashion Week runway in 2005 with his ultra-feminine pieces. When supermodels Nadine Willis, Reshima Hemmings and Jaunel McKenzie donned his glamourous designs, we completely understood why he is often referred to as “designer to the stars” and why his line is now available at Harrods, Knightsbridge.

Jessica Ogden

Jessica Ogden first hit the Caribbean Fashion Week runway in 2004 and the reverberations from that Passa Passa-inspired line are still being felt. Her bold use of colour, her distinctive approach to stitching and layering, and her penchant for using unassuming, antique and even distressed fabric to create something entirely new, has captured the imagination of fashion savants all over Europe and North America and has made her a darling of the foreign press. Ogden, now a major draw at Caribbean Fashion Week when she appears, has seen accolades pour in for her unique take on fashion, including, we can humbly say, snagging the Designer of the Year at the Style Observer Awards in 2007.

Claudia Pegus

Trinidad’s doyenne of style Claudia Pegus has been with Caribbean Fashion Week since its debut in 2001 and has wowed ever since. Her collection is an ode to the female form — revelling in the flirty and coquettish, the form-fitting, the sultry and the sophisticated. This queen of Caribbean fashion celebrates the woman in her very iteration — the frills and slits in Pegus’ ’02 line appealed to the funky and young; leather and sheer material emphasised feminine seductiveness in her Moulin-Rouge inspired 2008 show, and last year her array of stunning cocktail frocks as she paid homage to America’s stunning First Lady, Mrs O.