By Oluatoyin Alleyne
If you’re looking for a designer who is talented, daring, controversial; unique in her personality, then you’re looking for Olympia Small-Sonaram.
From skimpy bathing suits and barely-there outfits to beautiful dresses and elegant wedding gowns you name it; Olympia has done it all and more. But it is not only her elegant, skimpy and sometimes down right outlandish outfits that have made this designer popular; back then she matched her lifestyle to her daring outfits.
When talking to Olympia there is no room for moments of disinterest as she has the ability to hold someone’s attention. Maybe this could be attributed to the fact that she is not afraid to talk about who she really is.
The Scene chatted with her recently and she readily spoke about her career, her partying days and how it impacted on her marriage and her recent conversion to Christianity. This recent turn around in her life is only a few months old but the young mother of two says it is something she is not only doing for herself but for her two daughters and husband and as such it is a permanent change.
Designing in blood
Retracing her steps as a designer, Olympia tells us that she was born with designing in her blood as her mother is a designer and seamstress and she grew up watching her make people happy with her skills. “It was my mother’s only means of income so she did it every day and I would watch her and she taught me how to sew.”
From her early primary school days, Olympia started to do sketches of outfits and her mother sewed them for her. She recalls that at the age of 13 she entered a pageant, designed her own outfits and walked away with the crown. That taste of winning propelled her into the world of designs.
When she was 16, her mother was migrating and Olympia had to learn to sew if she wanted to continue to create cool outfits for herself. She did just that; something she has not regretted. She was 18 years old when she decided that the world of designing was to become hers and that she would have to make money from it. At that time she did mostly swimsuits and persons started approaching and requesting that she outfit them with some of her swimwear. “While I can design anything I must say that I have this cut for swimwear and lingerie.”
Because she was a model and one who ensured that she wore her own designs this helped her to build up a clientele. More and more persons started requesting outfits and gowns but the first time Olympia designed a gown for a pageant it was for a Miss Guyana Talented Teen contestant and it was judged the best gown in the pageant.
With that success Olympia went on to become one of the most sought-after designers of pageant gowns in the local arena. She not only designed for local pageants but for those overseas and one such gown was worn by former Miss Guyana Universe, Odessa Phillips, when she represented Guyana at the Miss Universe pageant.
The Mother & Daughter pageant has also become a fixture on her calendar of designs, so much so that last year she actually entered the pageant with her daughter Felicity and won the junior category.
She has also designed for organisations not the least of them being outfits for the Sheriff’s Deputies Band and for two years she created the swimwear line for the Miss Guyana/Universe pageant.
‘Always a passion’
But it is not just clothing that this creative mind designs, she also has the knack for making bouquets and floral arrangements for weddings. And while she always had a passion for wedding gowns, she never attempted to make any as she felt that may have been a little two much. However, six years ago all of this changed when her good friend, Nicola Giles, approached her and told her she was going to be hitched and she wanted her to design her wedding gown.
“I told her that I had never done a wedding gown before and was a little hesitant to do so but she told me that I designed gowns and the only difference it would be that this one was going to be white,” Olympia says.
She took her friend’s advice and faced the challenge of creating her first wedding gown and upon completion the finished product not only surprised and pleased the bride-to-be but also the designer.
‘I enjoy my work’
Olympia got married five years ago to Marc Sonaram and today she is the proud of mother of two beautiful daughters, Felicity and Seraphina. She admits that it is not always easy to juggle a family and create her designs. However, she said, working at home helps her to spend more time with her daughters and she has someone who assists her with the chores and also babysits the girls from time to time. “But sometimes you know one or both of the girls would come to me and I have to get up and spend time with them as they only want their mother at times.”
This does not prevent her from making her clients happy as she is always praised for completing outfits in a timely manner. And while she is not one to boast, Olympia tells The Scene that she has “this knack for making my designs a reality and once I have the material and everything I would take three days to create a wedding gown.”
She attributes this to the fact that she knows what she is about and has a supportive husband. Even though she points out that it could be challenging at times, it is nothing she can’t handle. “I think also it is because I enjoy my work I just don’t do it to earn a living but I actually enjoy what I am doing so the passion is always there to create an outfit.”
Marc, she says is very supportive of her work as she has him to lean on when the going gets tough, life becomes much easier.
‘People will talk’
Olympia has faced controversy over her designs, and to some extent her lifestyle but it is not something she dwells upon. “I can’t help the way the people think everybody has different tastes,” she says.
According to Olympia, all designers cannot just design “conservative” outfits as the persons with daring personalities may not get what they want. “So I design them all, conservative and daring, I can do them all and I do it if that is what the client wants.”
She not only designs her daring outfits but up until recently, she wore them as well. “How can I ask someone to wear something that I myself would not wear?” she questions, adding that on many occasions it was only after she wore an outfit that other women felt comfortable enough to wear it.
So it was not strange thing to see Olympia out and about in outfits that sometimes barely covered her vitals. And she knew people talked but she could not be bothered because she notes, “…if you are to live for the world and the people you would end up living in a box.”
She expands that many persons are afraid to be themselves because they do not want persons to speak negative things about them. “If you have the yearning to wear something, be something or do something you would not do it as you would think about what people would say and that at times make you be what you really are not.”
Changed
But even though Olympia does not care about what others say, she cares about her family. And this is why she has changed from the person she was a few months ago. “I am not going out as I used to. I am living a Christian life now. I have done it all so there is nothing anyone can come and tell me now that could excite me.
“I have gone through a lot in my life and I know it is only God that has kept me going and brought me to where I am today. All of my experiences have not been good and I think it is just right that I start to praise God and live a Christian life.
“I have changed because I want to be a role model for my daughters and I could not be that doing what I did in the past.”
This is not the first time she thought about being a Christian but she admits that before she did not want to give up some of the things she did. “But now I don’t feel as if I am missing anything. Now it is my career, family and God, not necessarily in that order, that are important to me.
“The lifestyle I led before caused a lot of problems in my family; with my husband,” Olympia says candidly.
She admits that her husband was not always happy with the clothes she wore. “But today we are much happier and our marriage is getting stronger.”
Even though she has changed her lifestyle, Olympia says she would not advise young people not to be themselves. “I would advise them to live their lives but that there must be a limit and to take example from others and also to take lessons from their life experiences.”
(samantha_alleyne2000@yahoo.com)
