Tyrina Neely

Fashion is my life and I truly could not contemplate working in another industry. Though it is unbelievably fun and at times glamorous - I’ve found that not many people understand the hard work that goes on behind the scenes to style something as small as a photo shoot or large-scale as a fashion week.

At this year’s Islands of the World Fashion Week (IWFW,) I had the opportunity to work as the official shoe stylist. It was an honor to add the finishing touch to the months of work behind the fabulous collections from designers hailing from island nations around the globe.  

This year, over two hundred and fifty pairs of shoes were sourced from Bani Shoe Warehouse, the largest shoe retailer in the region. Here’s a bird’s eye view of IWFW from the stylist’s perspective.

Leanne Marshall - IWFW Photo

Day 1 – The Preparation

I’ve just been confirmed as the official shoe stylist for IWFW. I’ve worked many a fashion show around the globe from New York City to Rome, but this is really exciting because I never conceptualized a fashion event of this magnitude being held right in my homeland. It’s time to show and tell. After speaking with several local shoe retailers, I’ve settled on Bani Shoe Warehouse largely because of their extensive selection given that at least 300 pairs of shoes will have to be sourced to meet the dressing demands of over 13 designers over the three day fashion week.

Armed with another pair of great eyes in the body of my good friend Harry, we set out combing the aisles for the lucky shoes that would adorn the feet of models from around the Caribbean.

When choosing shoes for a fashion show it’s important to remember that it really is all about the clothes. Styling is important but the ultimate goal is to create a look that allows all of the focus to fall on the clothing and the story the designer is aiming to tell with them.

In this light, the less shoe the better. Flat soles, open toes and strappy is typically what designers prefer. Just my luck – the store was filled with over the top platform styles for the season, but we were able to pull some great shoes nonetheless. Given that height is always an important factor as well and that models are typically more comfortable hitting their runway stride in very high heels – the higher the heel the better.

From caged heels, to sky high platforms, suede peep toe booties to pewter iridescent leather wedges, we saw them all. Harry would hold up a shoe from yards away, and I would either yell YES and the sizes we wanted or give him my signature rolled eyes and smile to myself as he smirked at me and the rejected shoes were relegated back to their display post.

Six hours and one mega migraine later we were done! Two hundred and eighty shoes had been unpacked, rubber banded together, logged and gingerly placed in what looked like an army of trunks to be packed in the back trunk of my wagon and hauled off to the Sheraton.

Let Fashion Week Begin!

Sabrina Sturrup - IWFW Photo

Day 2 – Organized Chaos

I arrive at the Sheraton at 11am. All the shoes had been stored in a private room the night before. I along with one other staff member had the key and I was assured no one would be granted access to the room. Sure enough I walk in to find at least 10 persons in the room.

It’s a well known fact that shoes tend to disappear during fashion week – the temptation to take a pair or two often too strong for models and others to resist so I was adamant about guarding the shoes with my life. “Good morning, how did you get in here?” were the first words that came spilling out of my mouth – not too well received by the older ladies that had volunteered of their time for this event and somehow felt I was being disrespectful. Blunt – yes, disrespectful – no, I did say good morning!

Tensions tend to run high with the fashion bunch – everyone wants to be king (or queen for that matter) but after apologizing for the way my statement came out and calming the ladies down we settled on a new home for the over $10,000 worth of shoes that had been placed in my care.

Down on the dressing floor, (a large ballroom partitioned by yellow curtains into hair and makeup, model fitting area, and shoe and lineup area) we found a large corner to arrange the hundreds of shoes. One by one we organized them by size, then color coordinated them and lined them neatly in rows in preparation for the designers that were showing on the first evening.

Once a designer has completed selecting and fitting models, the shoe stylists begin to select shoes for each individual look. The designers slotted for the first night were:

Phylicia Ellis - Bahamas 
Sabrina Stirrup - Bahamas 
Kevin Evans - Bahamas 
Darcel de Vlugt - Trinidad 

Guest Designer: Leanne Marshall – USA (Project Runway Winner)

With Harry and now fashion enthusiast and friend Kristina on the team we settled on a system and were beyond organized with a specialized form I had developed for keeping track of which shoes each designer was assigned.

First up for fitting was Phylicia Ellis. I tend to favor very feminine silhouettes and earth tones so I fell in love with local designer Phylicia Ellis’ collection instantaneously. Very youthful and feminine but with a dark, serious yet sexy color story, I was excited to select the shoes for her looks.

Once the designer had organized all their looks on a rack with the name of the model wearing the look on a piece of paper stuck to the corresponding hanger, we would select a coordinating shoe and either place it a   bag hanging on the same hanger or place it just below the look on the floor. Once we were completed – designers would then look at the selection and either approve it or request a change or two.

Pylicia Ellis - IWFW Photo

We did this for Ellis, Stirrup and Marshall’s collections – a process that had to be completed before the shows began. Then came the start of the show and the chaos of dressing models and ensuring the right model put on the right shoe. As models came running backstage from the runway, Harry was in charge of ensuring that no shoes walked out of the dressing area. He ran around yelling “shoes” repeatedly, beckoning for models to stop in their tracks for us to remove their heels while dressers were yelling for their clothes and production staff was yelling for the next designer lineup to get in position. Organized chaos.

By the end of the first night I had virtually memorized the shoe size of every model in the show and was absolutely exhausted, but not too exhausted to miss the after party. Rack of lamb (my favorite,) a Junkanoo rush out and great conversation with designers from Madagascar, and models from Barbados made the sacrifice of a few extra hours of sleep well worth it.

The first day of IWFW was done and though I dreaded waking up at 9 am the next morning I couldn’t wait to do it again.

Stay tuned for the stylist dish on the last two days of Islands of the World Fashion Week in my next column!

Darcel Van de Vlugt - IWFW Photo