Just a little fun pt. 1

Sometimes I surprise myself. Last year, I was invited to be a part of a collaboration between the Miss Bahamas Organization and The Bahamas Technical & Vocational Institute (B.T.V.I). When I got invited to be a part of this event, I decided even before hearing anything about it that I was just going to have fun. I tend to sometimes take myself a bit too seriously (no surprise for the people who know me). I have a tendency to check rules/regulations or overthink a situation until I stress myself out. This time, I decided to just have fun and to ask no questions.

Each designer had to choose one contestant to design for. We were asked to create two looks for them. The first look was for a motorcade event and we had to design a straight dress with spaghetti straps. At first, I must admit I was a bit disappointed. How was I supposed to have fun with a straight dress? I sat down and deconstructed the elements of a straight dress that I needed to include in my design (overthinking much?): fitted bodice, spaghetti straps, fitted skirt and split for ease of walking.

Before doing an initial sketch, I thought to myself “why does it have to be a traditional straight dress? I should just put the split in the front.” With that thought, the dress design began to evolve. After finding out another requirement (it had to have a straight neckline), I made one small tweak to my design and the process officially started.

The material for the dress was sponsored by Bahama Handprint. I love their prints so it was a bit difficult to choose just one, but the moment I saw it; I knew. This aqua, green and white print was the right one for the dress. My contestant Rejean Bosh and I wanted to make sure she made a statement and this would be perfect for it.

I know that if I had used my usual methods of creating for an event such as this (one with rules); I still would have designed a beautiful dress for Rejean. Instead, I allowed myself to step out of the box, relax, have fun with it, and stuck to the rules (that I knew about). I was very proud of what I had created. The final look was very different from what anyone else had done. Seeing the smile on her face when she saw the final outfit was worth it and I would not change a thing about it.