Gregory Mills and wife, designers of Millhouse, were again present at Caribbean Fashion Week 09 to show their latest men’s collection. Millhouse, known for clean lines and European flair, comes to us from Trinidad and Tobago.

Aaccording to CFStyle.com’s prior interview with the designer:

Armani is inspiration –well fitting suits, plain, clean lines with detailing, simplicity. People think that designing is ridiculous clothing; Armani has disproved that by having clean lines with amazing detailing – wearable art!

His love for the Armani brand ceame through clearly on the runway. Some of the pieces I can’t quite imagine seeing here in the Caribbean Streets, like these shorts, but overall I loved this collection.
I’ll ask Willard to drop a few thoughts on this collection, which can be viewed in the FOS gallery.

The colour scheme this year was black, white and gold and included fun and flirty cocktail dresses styled with a rock chic edge, leggings, swimsuits and even a jumper suit. I saw a play out of alot of recent trends from tulip shapes to fringe to boyfriend blazers.

Contact the designer at poshejamaica@gmail.com View the collection after the jump:

Keneea Linton is noticeably missing from the lineup, I know the published list isn’t finalized, I’m hoping she’ll pop up. If not, She’ll be missed. Alot of these designers have shown at recent Island Couture shows, I really hope they’re not planning to show the very same line at the big show! Snooze!

As if all that isn’t enough for you, Nia Long will be hosting, Tami and Tessanne Chin along with Eve and Kelly Rowland of Destiny’s Child will be performing! Ok, it’s not Beyonce, but she’ll do…makes me wonder who Pulse will pull out of their hat next year! Keep the A-listers coming Pulse!

I expect a late start for the opening show on Friday, hey, it is what it is, they’re not perfect either. However I also expect a fantabulous show. Don’t let me down Pulse!!!

You can get all the details at www.caribbeanfashionweek.com

See yah there!

Before I get to Fashionblock, here’s the video Socialingua put together of International Mecca of Style. Take a look at what I was talking about, i.e. models tripping all over together and all that.

Style Week Jamaica 2009 – International Mecca of Style (Part 2 of 2) from SociaLingua Team on Vimeo.

Oh gosh seeing myself on camera is so embarrassing! I need to be more cognisant of the cam and my expressions definitely! LOL

Anyway moving on to video of FashionBlock which was a better presentation:

Style Week Jamaica 2009 – Fashion Block from SociaLingua Team on Vimeo.

Those models watch too much ANTM, some of those poses! LOL! I didn’t make it out to the show but hey, I heard it was fun. What do you think, a better show? Good designs? Without replaying the vid, do any of the designers stand out in your mind? Name one! I dare you.

Not to worry, Style Week was just a warm up for the big show, Caribbean Fashion Week kicks off tomorrow!!! I can’t wait! Make sure you’re there!!!! And say hi if you see me, I don’t bite, promise

Model+runway spaces and rocks=disaster!

How could this not have been foreseen? Y’all coulda laid down some ply board and some carpeting for your models, I’m just saying. As for the show itself, The pieces left much to be desired. I was not inspired…I was not moved. Young Jamaican designer Andre Rowe showed much promise, his line showed effort, attention to detail and good construction.

Andre Rowe

Saint’s much advertised star of this year’s show, French designer Eymeric Francois was the only one to truly wow the crowd with his 5 pieces of gorgeous creations of zippers and ruffles.

The fact of the matter is that every year Saint tries to build a huge hype of glitz and glamour surrounding style week and I have yet to be wowed…I have already been issued releases and statements from stylists wanting to sue Saint and international designers who were not pleased with the quality of the show and were so left with a bad taste of Jamaican productions. Deiwght (how do you pronounce that?) you must do better. It is time to actually produce a high quality weekend all throughout or just focus your energies on FashionBlock, which is the highlight of your weekend and the only event that gets good feedback year to year.

Here’s a Socialingua facebook vid of more designers, plus a lil thing of me and others bitching about the show.

This is just my humble opinion however…fashionistas…speak your piece.

Stay tuned for a Fashion Block review.

a prevailing custom or style of dress, etiquette, socializing, etc.: the latest fashion in dresses.

conventional usage in dress, manners, etc., esp. of polite society, or conformity to it: the dictates of fashion; to be out of fashion.

manner; way; mode: in a warlike fashion.

the make or form of anything: He liked the fashion of the simple, sturdy furniture.

a kind; sort: All fashions of people make up the world.

workmanship : act or process of making.

If left up to my own devices, I would describe it off the top of my head as an inherent and CONSISTENT expression of self via external means, in this case, clothing. It is in a constant state of evolution; however, it is by no means fickle or easily influenced. In a lot of ways, it is the embodiment of simplicity. It is about rocking a white t-shirt or a three-piece suit with the same degree of ease and looking just as good! It is about bypassing contemporary trends which are at minimal, weekly, and seasonal at their longest. Fashion is way above a trend and is not limited to a particular group of brands (as Mrs. Obama can attest to) but is more about, wearing well, whatever you wear. A man or woman of fashion can be placed, anywhere in the world, at any time during any era and still fit in! Fashion also suggests maturity and comfort in one’s skin. Fashion DICTATES which trend is hot, whereas its close friend Style is DICTATED TO, by trends.

Fashion is congruent, shapeless, and adaptable like water and most importantly, AWARE of things such as the importance of fit when one considers body shape and complexion! Clothes will fit a 6’5 and 200 lb man and a 5’8, 160 lb man will be better suited (no pun intended) to certain types of clothing and fits. For instance, shorter men are encouraged to wear frame-elongating vertical stripes and suit with pinstripes while stock men are urged to exercise caution with horizontally-striped clothing to not take the viewers eyes across their body. While pink looks great on me, it probably would not fit your complexion. Again, fashion knows thyself and what works best for you. This is why I believe that fashion and style go hand-in-hand.

Style, according to the aforementioned website is best defined as: –noun

For instance, the popular phrase “in-style” speaks to what’s “in”, clearly. The very thing that is “in” today could be “out” tomorrow. An example is the grossly overpriced “throwback” jerseys and caps which rose to prominence in the early years to middle of the current decade and had grown men looking like teenagers. Thank God for Kanye West. Style in a lot of ways can be associated with trends, however, it may extend past this when one consider the phrase “he/she has style”, unless of course the word is being used in the wrong context. I’ll let you tell it. Anecdotal evidence suggests that style endures a complete overhaul once every 5 years and it will be interesting to see where we find ourselves in 5 years’ time!

At this website, we prefer Fashion OVER Style. Style is cool, but give us Fashion and call it a day. I think that since 2004, Jay-Z has become a very fashionable man, whereas Kanye West strikes me as being stylish. Have doubts? Well, a cursory glance at their styles over these last 5 years will show whether there is any truth to this assertion. A different flavour to the article, to mark a change, well, not really a change but I had to switch it up and I even made greater use of the Queen’s English unlike my everyday hip-hop vernacular. Did you like it? Your boy has FLAVOUR! Let me hear you man.

willard_a@fashionoverstyle.net

Peace & Love.

Sincerely yours,

Willard A.

Honor|Pride|Glory

Last weekend was Style Week hosted by Saint International. There was a high-profile launch at the Pure Lounge in New Kingston and I collaborated with SociaLingua.Com …or more like they told me it would be a good idea to do some videa blogging and I agreed…Lord knows why, I dunno if I’m cut out for this VJ stuff but here goes!

This is Tifa arriving on the scene…you can find a previous interview I did with here when we went shopping…

Tifa Arrived with dancehall star D’angel

We spoke with New York designer Sammy B

And Dexter Pottinger, stylist and designer of 3D with his date dancehall star Cecile

This article came to me like a song I wrote (“tell the trick get the scarf, pillow case and rope” – Notorious B.I.G, “Story to tell”) … anyway, so this is a new spin on things. I am going to ask your opinion on my outfit for my friend’s nuptials this coming weekend. Now, it is an afternoon, outdoor wedding (not in a church). Pictured are the shirt, jacket, tie and pocket square that I intend to wear. These are pretty much set in stone because of what I believe will be the wedding’s theme, and the fact that it will be occurring while the sun is still up. Upper body wear is set, however, I am just unsure about my pants and I have two options, navy or beige, clearly I can’t wear both at the same time eh? There are pros and cons to both, let’s go:

NAVY

Pros:

(i) the shirt and tie are more suited to the navy pants and would look a lot better with the navy than with the beige if I ever have to remove the jacket, to dance up a storm, for instance. (Not likely, since I’m not much of a dancer, but I will shake a leg if the mood strikes)

(ii) navy will reduce the overkill since I’ll be wearing brown shoes

(iii) navy will look more appropriate as evening progresses to night

(iv) wearing the navy pants with the beige jacket would suggest I’m lightening up for an afternoon wedding rather than attempting (poorly at that) to put a suit together with the beige pants that do not match the jacket

Cons:

(i) there is a slight chance that the navy pants and the jacket would clash

(ii) the pants could prove to be a bit hotter (literally) than their brown counterparts in the afternoon sun

BEIGE

Pros:

(i) may go better with the jacket and tie

(ii) may prove to be “cooler” and more casual than navy

(iii) will go very well with brown shoes and belt

Cons:

(i) an attempt to match, it could be overkill

(ii) the faded blue pinstripes in the jacket could prove to be too much for the pants to keep up with

(iii) the rule of thumb says "Don’t wear brown on the town", which essentially means, do not wear brown after the sun is down.

Blah, some of the pros and cons were becoming repetitive so I will quit while I am “ahead”. Truth is, I think I have made my decision, however I will wait until I have tried both on and attended the event to make the choice public. Heck, I may even post a picture! Now if only I had elastics in the colour blue (that is NOT a give-away!), cha! More next time, holler at me eh? willard_a@fashionoverstyle.net . Peace & Love.

Sincerely yours,

Willard A.

Honor|Pride|Glory

Fly item: I have officially spotted my next phone! It is not taking the world by STORM, overly BOLD and being thrown as a JAVELIN, no. Give me the BlackBerry GEMINI from T-Mobile and let us in the process revive the 2009 FRESH. CHEA!

I gotta tell you I work on the sidelines of a runway, I know I do. These girls throw down! Here is Kristy at work on a Tuesday morning looking her Tuesday best, Beyonce would be so proud of those heels…

I love the colour combination i.e. the sky blue cardigan with the red. Work it Kristy!

Okay, as we proceed with style and things related to clothes, I must state that readers have been clamouring for me to speak for me about casual clothing and trends in one of my articles and being a man of the people, I had to comply. I’ll just speak to the trends/styles that I’m feeling and leave it there. Okay.

By the way, I forgot to mention one thing re: belts in an earlier column, which is that I prefer them as I prefer my women. Thick. 1.5 to 1.8 inches wide is ideal for me, but just ensure that they can fit in the belt loop of your jeans/pants or else it is a waste of time. By the way, I like this belt a lot.

I’m not too big on overt brand displays but I would wear this one in a second, no, millisecond. With a suit though, so at least you would have to look a second time to realize that I’m wearing a $250 D&G belt, whereas wearing it without a jacket would just come across as being ostentatious. That isn’t on my agenda. Awesome belt. I love this Gucci belt also. Do you? Right now is the wrong time for me to have expensive taste buds, lol. I would buy the Gucci one though. On a whole, I don’t find the high-end brands to be very appealing, but I have found that I have a slight weakness for Gucci. I find it to be a very clean and attractive brand that caters to a fellow such as myself.

Where belts are concerned, I am really feeling these two colours, tan & white (not grey this time, lol).

Materials? I think I prefer the woven material for casual belts. I try to be open-minded where it concerns opinions contrary to mine, but I really can’t make a case for skinny belts, nor tight jeans. I’m sorry. Skinny ties? Maybe, but again, they’re not for me. “to thine ownself be true.”

So we have those belts.

Now this is another style I’m feeling.

These plaid shorts are ridiculous.

I think they should fall a bit below the knees and be worn with bright coloured polo or t-shirts, and if you wear a cool belt which is worth showing off, then tuck that shirt in and be on your way!

If you wear socks, THEY MUST NOT SHOW!!!!

Shoes?

Air Force Ones – white, leather. Supreme, leather, or we’re not conversing.

But outside of the AF1s, the closer to white for the kicks, the better.

Boat shoes

Sandals – make them hot, and original

Where can you wear the aforementioned if all put together? Anywhere close to a beach, and anytime before sundown.

I am still digging the following:

1. TH Rugby Shirts – white collar which conceals the neck buttons, and covert logo placement
2. T-shirts with witty phrases on the front. And I mean the TRULY witty ones and not the average BS that a lot of these guys are wearing. I think I got into them before they became “trendy” and the designers lost their wit as a result of mass production. One of my finer ones is attached to the right below the text. I used to dig DRUNKNMUNKY, but now? Not so much. Though I must admit that I wore one of those joints tonight.
   



3. Army-themed tops: long sleeve olive/camouflage jackets, if worn with a white t-shirt, blue jeans, white AF1s and a matching hat is militant and bears repeating as often as you’d like.
4. Hats: I don’t wear many, because my head’s big and I don’t like how they fit me, but, I like:
   1. Blue Yankee Fitted – “I’ve got one last wish, put my Yankee hat ooooon”
   2. Berets – baggier than your average, I’m not in favour of the military fit in this instance
   3. Fedoras aka “Pimp Hats” – I live vicariously through people I see at formal events with this kind of headwear. Throw on a hat with a suit and you’ll automatically stand out. Extra points if it has a feather, and maximum points if the feather is appropriately placed.

Are you feeling what I’m feeling? Let me know at willard_a@fashionoverstyle.net. By the way, this week’s article will be previewed a few days early for reasons you will learn of on SATURDAY! It will be special I guarantee it. Look out.

Peace & Love.

Sincerely yours,

Willard A.