Mega talented fashion designer Anya Willique Pratt has released her first Resort Collection, through a fashion show held on Sunday, April 3, at the Cheshire Hall Plantation in Providenciales.
The designs featured casual and beach wears, and the feedback from the throng of persons in attendance, including Drani Saunders, wife of Deputy Premier and Finance Minister Hon. E. Jay Saunders, was tremendous.
Everything about the fashion show was unique. The runway idea was the first of its kind, at least in the Turks and Caicos Islands. With sections of the plantation trail used as the runway, with seating facilities staged at strategic points along the trail, eliminating any form of sight obscurity.
The pre-sunset setting, coupled with the ruins forming part of the ambience, was truly a hit with the audience.
After the show, Pratt, in a brief interview with NewslineTCI, said the designs were inspired by the Cheshire Hall Plantation upon visit last year.
“I came last October, and we did a photo shoot. And I realized at sunset that it was so amazing to see the different hues and colors,” she said. “So, what I decided to do was to create a collection based around that, and being from Grand Turk, everyone basically goes to the water at the end of the day.” She pointed out that the varying shades of the sunset formed the base of the designs.
“Each sunset is different, and that was how we got the different hues of oranges,” she revealed, stating that the idea was to fortify a great deal of the local culture in her project.
“What I wanted to do was to include a lot of the TCI Culture in each design,” she said further.
Pratt does not only have an eye for high fashion, but also the model selection, as the individuals chosen by her to show off her creation, wore and displayed them immaculately. She said the show exceeded her expectations, and that it was a satisfying feeling know that her concepts were brought to life.
“I think it has been a longtime coming, so I am very satisfied to put what I always wanted to create out into the world. It is a little nerve-wracking, and it is showing that you can create an industry for creatives and, also fashion in Turks and Caicos,” she said, expressing the hope that her originality would help to open a wider genre in the industry.
Pratt told NewslineTCI that while apparel creation gives her much satisfaction, handbag designing is her first love.
“It actually started in 2016…I got into handbags because my dad is into shoes, and he kind of like pushed me into it. And I started on the floor of my apartment, sketching, and putting things together, and then I was self-taught, so that’s how it started,” explained.
And what is the next stop for the female fashion innovator? “London Fashion week. That is in September, but after this, I do have some work with the prisoners (at Her Majesty’s Prison in Grand Turk).”
During the event, Pratt presented Drani Saunders with the Certificate of Authenticity on behalf of her Hon. Saunders.