Afribbean fashion show
Posted by Administrator on Oct 31, 2009
Sunday at 6:00 p.m. the fourth annual Afribbean Fashion Show was held in the Student Activity Center at UNC Charlotte. Models from the Caribbean, Africa and the United States sported brightly colored clothing as they walked the catwalk in front of a crowd of around 65 people.
The show’s feature designers were Twice Original Designs and Odelia Studio with entertainment provided by Toochukwu T.C. Anyachonkeya, author of “Deeper Than Rhymes,” rapper/song writer Chief Capo, and singer/song writer Rainey Vexen. Albeit it was over 45 minutes late getting started and visibly chaotic, T.C. helped ease the tension by strutting his stuff on the runway before reciting an inspirational poem from his book.
The reason for the delay was said to be because Chief Capo was running behind; however, five minutes before the show, he preformed the sound check. Due to this set back, the rest of the show as affected. There were long pauses between models, moments of silence while waiting on the performers to come on stage, and the announcer seemed bewildered.
After having to restarted her final song three times, singer/song writer Rainey Vexen admitted that she was nervous and kept missing her queue. “Like always, I get nervous, but I try to turn my mishaps into part of the show,” Vexen said. She played off her mistake by making it appear as if she were trying to get the crowd more involved. By the middle of the song, she had most the audience clapping to the beat of her music.
The modeled clothes where flirty and fun ranging from sun dresses to business casual pants, from halter tops to tiger print evening gowns. Twice Original Designs had an urban feel and featured men’s polo shirts in various colors. Odelia Studio was the last and most extensive line presented to the audience.
Odelia Rouse was born in Dominica, and in 1985 she moved to United States. She went to fashion school at Bauder College in Atlanta, Ga. In July 2008 she opened a store in Concord N.C where she hand made all the clothes featured in Sunday’s show. While this was only the second line of clothing she has designed, her pieces have been in many fashion shows. Although Odelia had no opinion on the organization of the show as a whole, she felt that her line was present very well. “It was crazy, fashion shows are always like that. I thought it was a big success,” Odelia said.
The only Caucasian model was Mary-Beth King, 19 year old daughter of Ann King. While trying on clothes in Odelia’s store, Odelia commented on Mary-Beth’s figure and asked if she would like to be in the show. She agreed, and at around 8:30 Sunday night, Mary-Beth paraded down the runway in the first of her four outfits. “It is very exciting,” King said, “she is only 5’2 but Odelia thought she would make a good model.”
By 9:00 p.m., the show concluded with Odelia bowing to a standing ovation. Three gifts where given out to those with the lucky ticket number: two, five percent off coupons for any of the designs by Odelia and a free gift basket. Proceeds from the fashion show will be donated towards research for AIDS and any of the entertainment can be found on Google.
