Mélange Travel & Lifestyle Magazine October 2016 | Page 388

Why did you leave St. Lucia. I first left St. Lucia to study business administration at Corning University in New York. Having arrived in the Big Apple, I began to pursue my other passion, which of course was fashion, by accepting a job as a trainee at the fashion design house of Bill Blass one of the biggest American fashion houses in the 80’s, who along with other designers like Oscar de La Renta, Calvin Klein and Donna Karen were the top in Fashion at the time. Upon completion of my studies I went back to St. Lucia as I was required to return to serve my bond as my studies had been funded by the government, and I took up a role as an accountant. However my Fashion dreams and aspirations were always at the forefront of everything that I did, so my interest was piqu ed when in 1988 I entered the first ever fashion designers competition held in St. Lucian. Up to that point even though I worked a full time job, I was able to secure a number of clients who I designed for, who were the movers and shakers in various sectors of the society, and was able to begin to creatively and tangibly formulate and develop my fashion style, brand and name in St. Lucia. Having won the competition I would later that very year leave for Paris with a scholarship to study fashion for four years at the International Fashion College called ESMOD. From that point Paris and France became my home. What awakened your interest in Fashion, television and acting? Who is your role model and mentor. Simply the fact that I loved the television series Dynasty, I loved the way the women were dressed, large shoulder pads, a tightly cinched waist and a big blowout, and drama, drama and drama. I always imagined myself playing the role of Alexis Carrington/ Joan Collins who as an actress became my acting muse, as part of my fascination with her was that beneath all that elegance was so much evil. YOUR WORLD . . . Following my graduation from ESMOD I was fortunate and blessed to have had the opportunity to work with the genius of Paco Rabanne where I continued to develop my skills as a pattern maker. This was my first experience in full appreciation of the female body and what it meant to structure a garment taking into consideration every element of her stature, curves and femininity. I would later move on to the house of Guy Laroche to end up as designers assistant to Marc Jacobs at Louis Vuitton as his design assistant when he entered the house as the first designer in the late 90’s. As it often happens serendipity is a common feature of my life, and one evening whilst out on the town I was approached in a night club and asked to attend a casting for a TV presenters job. I had nothing to lose so off I went to the casting and as many things in my life the puzzle pieces just fell into place and I was offered the role to host a fashion program. Later, to take up an additional role of the weather girl on the same channel. 384 Enter stage right Vincent Mc Doom the TV presenter. Three years into that show I was approached by the biggest TV station in Europe TF1 who were at the time casting celebrities for the first celebrity reality TV show called the Farm. The shows concept was that celebrities remain on the farm for 14 weeks, work the farm daily and on a weekly basis the viewers would vote out one celebrity. As a participant I became very popular with audiences across France and Europe as I was the first unique celebrity to present as a boy in complete female attire, never without my high heels if you please. Throughout that show I had the opportunity to live the Dynasty moments through my 3 to 4 wardrobe changes daily, and very often a variety of mood changes that came about due to situations I was confronted with. Cleary I made for good television as I was not easy being Vincent Mc Doom and stuck on a farm with heels for 14 weeks. I didn’t win the show however, I can second but that was where my fan base began and my popularity as a French celebrity was cemented. Following that I became one of the judges and the catwalk coach on 4 Next Top model franchises. France, Belgium, Russia and Poland. Then came the requests for castings for more television series, films and theatre. Currently I am reading for a part in a new television series and working on various fashion projects to position the Caribbean and the fashion sector as a high end fashion hub.