Ewa Afrika highlights African fashion

Ewa Afrika …a Nubian Renaissance is a fashion performance extravaganza which will celebrate extraordinary local designer brands. The event will also highlight Ghanaian designers.

Among the top designers on show on June 26 at Queen's Hall, St Ann's are The Cloth, Lisa Faye Silks, Zadd and Eastman, Sean Griffith Perez Designs, Derron Atts, Naballah Chi, the Nubian Experience, Harvey Robertson, Mark Eastman, Christique Clothing, Xoana Designs, the African Ark, Indigenous Design by Dominique La Roche, Akillah Jaramogi, Afrodesiack, Euphoric Designs, DAV Originals, DAWW Creations and Heather Jones.

Ghanaian designers Faustina Ansong and Josephine Hayford will also present their fashion, said a media release.

Some of Trinidad and Tobago''s top entertainers will complement the phenomenal designers. The lineup includes Vaughnette Bigford, Tobagonian revolutionary artiste Xavier Edwardz, dance talents LaShaun Prescott and Deon Baptiste, award-winning spoken-word artiste Zakiya Gill, Stacey Sobers and the drumming and performing ensemble, Wasafoli TT.

With a cast of more than 60 models, the production, directed by regional fashion impresario Richard Young, promises to be a theatrical spectacular, the release said.

Ewa Afrika is a production of the Emancipation Support Committee (ESCTT) and is geared at promoting cultural confidence, captivating performances, and creative excellence. The executive director at ESCTT, Zakiya Uzoma-Wadada, coined the title, Ewa Afrika, referencing the beauty of God as is manifest in creative incarnations, the release said.

“I am extremely proud that the organisation is staging this showcase under the patronage of Senator, the Honourable, Randall Mitchell, Minister of Tourism, Culture and the Arts. I am also happy to have partnered with Young, the Caribbean fashion guru, to create this event,” Uzoma-Wadada said in the release.

Young is thrilled about heralding Afro-Caribbean style to the world with his “one true and clear vision” about our Caribbean aesthetic." On his passion for Caribbean style he says, "our eclectic sensibilities are expressed most magnificently in our style options, immersed as they are in our syncretic African fashioning.

“On June 26, Ewa Afrika will course our liberation, as it were, through fashion storytelling, at its finest, by dramatists extraordinaries Conrad Parris and Abeo Jackson, at the exquisite ambience of the Garden Theatre at Queen's Hall. I am honoured to do the bidding!" he said in the release.

This fashion showcase is part of the largest Pan-African festival held outside the continent of Africa, which is spearheaded by the ESCTT, celebrating 30 years of ground-breaking, sustainable visioning with this year’s theme honouring the power of transformation and resilience, the release said.