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.