O2N Style leaps, one day to a week of events

O2N Oxygen with Nicole (O2N) style made a leap for the one-year anniversary of the event, growing from a one-day event to a week of shows and public conversations, closing with a fashion show that featured over 25 designers from across the region and one from Canada.

O2N founder Nicole Dyer-Griffith said collaboration is an important feature of further growth in the Caribbean fashion industry.

The week of events started on May 20 with a panel discussion and after a number of events which included trade exhibitions and trunk shows, ended with the main event, a fashion show.

Hosted by media personality Paul Richards and criminologist Renee Cummings, designers featured included Claudia Pegus, ID Dominique LaRoche, Linkage Clothing by Dale Angus, Harvey Robertson, Pulchritude designs by Shanice and Shanika McDonald, Heather Jones, Charu Lochan Dass, Osanie Designs, which uses eco-friendly and sustainable fabric, Diane Carlton Caribbean by Stacy Weekes-Benjamin, KimmysticClo from St Vincent, KiranK, Shaun Griffith Perez, Zadd and Eastman, Sonia Noel from Guyana, Lisa Sargeant, and The Cloth by Robert Young.

Dyer-Griffith said, “This was no small feat because we went from one way, into an entire week of events.”

She said growing the offerings required hard work and many sleepless nights, for which she thanked her husband, Police Commissioner Gary Griffith and her son, Gary Griffith III, for their support, along with her extended family, the O2N team.

The Oxygen with Nicole Foundation, the brainchild of Dyer-Griffith, is governed by an intention of bringing the most talented Caribbean designers together for a week of events synonymous to the likes of New York Fashion Week, or the region’s very own, Caribbean Fashion Week.

“When they tell you you can’t, you show them how it is done. And that is the ethos of oxygen with Nicole and the O2N Foundation.”

Dyer-Griffith recognised creative director Richard Young as a driving force behind the O2N brand.

“My next step will be to pen correspondence to the dean of the University of the West Indies to honour Richard Young for his years of service with an honorary doctorate in arts and humanities,” she declared.

She called for those present to support the move, saying Young has been an evangelist of the Caribbean aesthetic for decades.

The stage set-up, lights and monitors added to the experience of the show, which featured a mixture of throwback and contemporary Caribbean music. Crowd favourites, based on the response, included Heather Jones, Claudia Pegus, Charu Lochan Dass and The Cloth. Patrons filled approximately 60 per cent of the seats.

The show closed with a display of the 2019 collection of costumes from the Overall Band of the Year winners K2K Alliance and Partners’ presentation Through Stained Glass Windows, one of which was modelled by Dyer-Griffith, who said she looks forward to what is to come for O2N Style in the future.