Murielle Leconte

Day three - It’s a Wrap

My cell phone won’t stop ringing - Harry first then Kristina - everyone’s exhausted and yearning for an extra minute or two of sleep. I oblige - I could use a few extra minutes myself. By 10:30 am we’re on the road and at the venue in no time. Let the fun begin!

The final day of Islands of the World Fashion Week (IWFW) was definitely the busiest and most hectic for us in the shoe styling department. There is a mixture of eagerness and exhaustion in the air that makes everyone a little anxious - especially us. 

At the final hour every designer needs shoes, and the requests are very specific: “silver 4 inch heels with one strap across the toes and a very thin ankle strap with no buckle,” even with a great selection it was impossible to cater to every designer whim - but we did our best.

b-Michael

For the final day, the designer line-up seemed the heaviest of all the days.

Murielle Leconte - Haiti

ICandy Swimwear - Bahamas

Harl Taylor BAG - Bahamas

Eric Raisina - Madagascar

Guest Designer: b michael 

With some designer shows requiring each model to wear at least two different looks, the goal was to choose shoes that could do double duty for both outfits. Eliminating shoe changes made life a little easier for us and less chaotic for dressers and the models themselves as they scurried off the runway to the backstage fitting area. It’s enough having clothes flying everywhere without bringing tens of shoes into the mix.

This is this part I love the most about working backstage. The adrenaline rush - everyone’s up in arms about something and it creates a frantic yet exciting environment that all fashion enthusiasts seem to feed off of - organized chaos at its best.

Harl Taylor BAG

The part I love least - packing up. After all the chaos comes the somber task of packing it all up. The shows were done and the producer gathered everyone to give a vote of thanks. As he ended and the models, hair stylists, make-up artists and other production staff left, our work began. Sorting shoes by brand, we combed through hundreds of pairs, keeping our fingers crossed that few would be damaged and hoping little to none would be missing. As we worked a model sashayed by and commented “now the real work begins huh,” and she was right. 

However, to our delight we were done in just over an hour, we hauled the pairs to my car and made plans to meet up at the after party.

I dashed home, threw on a little black dress and headed to the IWFW wrap party. I’ve become somewhat of a little old lady as it relates to partying lately so after a few ‘tay lay lays’ it was time to head home.

Eric Raisina

Fast forward to Monday - time to return the shoes to Bani Shoe Warehouse. Styling is a very new idea to local retail companies and the notion of loaning clothes or accessories for marketing exposure is one they are very wary of adopting. I was anxious to return the shoes. Every single pair was thoroughly checked to ensure it appeared brand new. The process was long, painstakingly repetitive and took a full eight hours without stopping. In the end, all but two pairs of shoes were accounted for with very little damaged pairs, a feat in and of itself. After a pat on the back in the form of a Bamboo Shack combo snack it was all done.

Months of preparation culminating in a 10-15 minute runway show. Put those 13 shows together and you have the three day IWFW. It was an absolute pleasure to be a part of the styling team for this year’s event. Here’s to the growing Bahamian fashion industry!

Tyrina Neely

Tyrina Talks Fashion is your weekly serving of fashion forecasting, trend reporting, figure analysis and helpful fashion tips and tricks. Email Tyrina with your fashion questions and photos at tyrinaalicia@hotmail.com.