Caribbean Style
Take off the Bob Marley T-shirt. Hang up the guayabera. Above all, stop looking like a tourist, say designers whose Caribbean styles are more than souvenirs.
Latin Americans, such as Colombian-born Esteban Cortazar, still reign over Miami's fashion scene. But in a sun-baked city where skin is always in, designers from the Caribbean have fashioned a style niche in ready-to-wear, lightweight clothes with brand names and colors evoking their native islands' music and patois.
Caribbean style is meant to be worn on a hot, sunny street, said Beth Sobol, founder of Miami Fashion Week, a spring event that draws designers from South America, Italy and Spain, among others.
Other designers elsewhere occasionally use Caribbean colors. A recent Christian Dior collection prominently featured the red, gold and green frequently identified with Bog Marley, his reggae music and Jamaica. But the look hasn't been adopted much beyond the islands or Miami.
The Miami-based designers are succeeding, though, at building local brands aimed at fashion-conscious buyers within their own communities, Sobol said.
Lightweight Luxury
Miami's hot weather and body conscious attitude make it an extension of the nearby Caribbean, said Cuban-born designer Rene Ruiz. He found his lavish gowns and pret-a-porter collection had to not only fit well but be made of fabric that breathes.
"The couture, the clothes I make, is very lightweight. The suiting I do has a lot less inner lining," Ruiz said.
Miami also shares the Caribbean's more daring definition of glamour and elegance, said bridal and evening gown designer Angelique Terrelonge.
Women here demand the same luxury details found in other collections, but the trends have wearable in a steamy climate, she said. The Jamaican-born designer wanted a collection in fur, but knew nobody here needs an extra layer of warmth. Instead, she created a jacket made from fluffy pink ostrich feathers, which she calls "South Beach Fur."
"The price point isn't as high as a mink or fox or something like that," Terrelonge said. "It's a great overcoat or evening piece for Florida, California, that in-between before winter really hits in."
Musical Vibes
Fede Prudhomme built his Compa Jeans line around an idle observation at a concert: His wife's jeans hugged her hips but gaped at her waist. He looked around the club at the other women dancing to the kompas music popular in his native Haiti, and saw that none of their designer jeans fit their hourglass proportions, either.
"That's when I realized, man, we need to come up with just the right specifications for these curvy women with big hips, rather big butts and very skinny waists," Prudhomme said.
So Compa Jeans hug a woman's hips, with a lower rise and a bit of stretch. Prudhomme played with the name of the upbeat dance music popular in Haiti so his jeans also would appeal to Spanish speakers recognizing a word for "rhythm" or a slang term for "friend."
The Colors Of Reggae
Rockers It's Dangerous applies a red, gold and green flourish to almost all its T-shirts, swimwear, jeans, board shorts, track jackets and other accessories. Founded by transplanted New Yorkers Joy Haizen and Jake Jacobson, the brand developed from a licensing deal with Blue Sun Film Co. to distribute the 1978 cult reggae film "Rockers."
The color combo symbolizes more than just reggae music and its
stars, Haizen said.
"Reggae is associated with the beach," she said, and the color combination "means excitement, summer, rebellion, cool."
The target Rockers customer is a teenage reggae fan, "but also the older consumer who still wants that Tommy Bahama, island feel, but wants to kick it up a notch," Haizen said.
Reggae fans have also grown up and learned to look beyond a color scheme, once they identify a brand they associate with their favorite artists, said Homer Bair, co-founder of reggae-inspired Cooyah.
The label on most of the brand's T-shirts, flared denim skirts and men's hoodies is a slang term in Bair's native Jamaica for "Look at me!" Bair plans to expand Cooyah's collection to include more fitted and sophisticated dress shirts and gowns.
"At one time we had to do everything red, gold and green, but now we can do blue, and people recognize the Rasta colors," Bair said.
A Touch Of Pink
A growing acceptance of tropical hues and prints in menswear has boosted sales for Haitian brothers Patrick and Fabrice Tardieu and their Bogosse label.
They spice up classic European-style dress shirts with lighter colors and playful details, such as their signature diagonal buttonholes and a notch in the cuff to show off a wristwatch. Pink is the brightest color that pops out in the "shirt room" at the Tardieus' suburban Miami offices.
"Before, in pink, it was very difficult to sell. Now it is one of our bestselling colors," Fabrice Tardieu said. "It shows men want to do more for themselves, and dare to do more."
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