Designer Denise Jennings returned to Guyana three years ago after 20+ years designing of elegant gowns and alluring costumes in Barbados and plans to turn up the heat in the couture arena with her Hibiscus Couture House of Fashion.
Barely making it into the world, Denise was born premature at seven months and spent her first month of life outside her mother in an incubator. She weighed less than five pounds and was bald; a contrast to today as she is curvy and has knee-length hair.
Though she was born at the Georgetown Public Hospital, Denise and her family moved around a lot because her father was a detective. Her family settled in Bartica and that is where her heart is. She attended from primary school there with ministers Simona Broomes and Dr George Norton. She also attended Bartica Secondary.
When Denise was 15, she won the Miss Bartica Regatta Pageant. She recalled that she wore a brown cotton dress with the Kaieteur Falls on it which depicted the hydropower platform she was representing.
Reminiscing about her childhood, she said she modelled her mother’s heels and purses around the house and while no one else saw an up and coming designer, they did not doubt for a second that she would grow to become a fashionista.
After completing school, Denise taught for two years, before leaving the job in 1981 when they decided they wanted to send her to teachers’ training college. Her dream was to be either a nurse or an accountant. The accounting opportunity turned up first and she attended classes in George-town and wrote exams offered by the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Denise first worked at GAIBANK, and after it closed, at the GNCB Trust. Later she worked with the Ministry of Health as a nutrition officer before leaving for Barbados.
When she left these shores, Denise went with intention of finding a better life, but noted that “the grass is not always greener on the other side”. Nonetheless with much determination and dedication she made it work.
Her designing career began when she was invited to a christening and had nothing appropriate to wear. Dresses were expensive, so using the money she had, she bought material and decided to make her own. This was easier said than done, she noted, adding that she figured it out as she went along. Pinning the cloth to an old dress, she cut out the design she wanted, then hand stitched it. Every time she stitched a seam, she tried it on until it fitted perfectly.
At the church, the ladies were impressed with her dress and asked where she had bought it. When they learnt that Denise had made it by hand, they did not believe until she showed them. One of the women pulled her aside and advised her to take classes in measuring and cutting. Though she listened and nodded, she said, she had no intention of doing so until she found herself enrolled in classes; the grass became greener after this.
The classes were offered by a Guyanese designer called Yvette and her first assignment was to measure and cut a skirt. But by the time Denise joined the classes she had already hand-sewn eight outfits for herself, so she went ahead and stitched her skirt also, part by hand and part by machine borrowed from a neighbour. Surprised that she had finished the skirt, Yvette asked her to teach the elementary class. Persons in the class believed Yvette did that because she felt threatened by Denise’s potential. Whether this was true or not, Denise said, this hampered her from being taught anything else but in no way prevented her from learning, because while Yvette was teaching the intermediate and advance classes, also in the same room, Denise listened attentively. At home, she would try the new methods she eavesdropped. By the time the classes ended, Denise had a collection of outfits on display that were sold.
Denise was later called on to finish some bridesmaids’ gowns after Yvette fell ill. Some skeptics believed Yvette was setting her up to fail, but all turned out well.
“I found my purpose when I decided I wanted to design,” Denise said. “When I started my business in Barbados, I had a shop. The first day I open that shop. I had a little table, one domestic machine, an overlock machine and my chair. I opened my doors. I had my sign up… my confidence was not there. This was after… the classes and the bridesmaids’ dresses.
“A Guyanese woman come in and she said, ‘You’re the seamstress?’ and I said ‘yeah’. She said ‘okay, I want you to do a skirt suit for me and if you fit me well, I’ll be back’.
“I said my little prayer and I cut out the material and when I finish and that client came back, she was so impressed that she brought other people the next time. Eventually I was able to get another machine, a bigger table, another machine and staff.”
Today she has clients in Barbados, Guyana and in the US and has provided them with curtains, school uniforms, gowns, suits, wedding dresses, among other items. There is nothing Denise says no to. Currently, she has two December weddings for which she is making the bridesmaids’ dresses and the second dress (reception dress) for the bride.
Denise always goes the extra mile, or two to see that her clients are comfortable in their style of dress and to ensure that this is so, she visits their Facebook page, takes a look at what they like, the colours they seem fond of and what colour she believes works with their skin tone.
Among the designers that inspired Denise are Randy Madray, and internationally, Oscar de la Renta. “I like Randy Madray,” she said. “I’ve heard of other Guyanese designers too, but I say Randy because I know of his work and I did a stint with him so I’m familiar with his work. My aim is to bring fashion in Guyana to another level.
“I’m not saying that we don’t have designers here that are already on that level but there’s not a lot of us and almost every time – I know I might get a lot of lashes for saying this – but almost every time you go to a fashion show, you see cotton work onstage for Guyanese fashion.
“For me I don’t do much with cotton. I do couture, I do swimwear, which is spandex, couture is more of the high-end kind of material like satin, lace, velvet, and stretch-taffeta for my designs. The only time I would use cotton is when I’m doing African pieces because most of the African [prints] comes in the cotton form. I shy away a lot from cotton, but I guess the reason they use a lot of the cotton is because of the climate… I still think there’s more than we can do than just showcase cotton outfits and tie-dye outfits.
“When I went to showcase my pieces in New York, people were like, ‘oh my god, this piece is beautiful’ or ‘this piece is lovely’ and they seemed surprised that I was from Guyana. I’m going to stick to my kind of high-end fashion kind of design.”
Sadly, the designer said, she does not get the support of the local designers as she had hoped. “It pains me to see how some of us behave. There is this level of rivalry. I don’t know why because most of us design differently. Like if you see Randy’s piece on stage and you see mine, you would definitely know the difference. People always go for the style they like anyway so I don’t know why it’s like this.
“After I had gotten back, I initially wanted to do a show at Princess [Ramada Hotel] and I invited a bunch of designers to come onboard with me and let us do this show and they had so many excuses of why they couldn’t be available.
“In my mind, if they are not in charge or if it’s not their event, they’re not interested and will not come to give you the support as a fellow designer. After saying this, I know there are persons who will have negative things to say but I have to speak the truth. Maybe their experiences with other local designers are different. I don’t know what they are experiencing, but for me it’s been like that.”
Over the years, Denise created costumes for Barbados’ Crop Over, making a name for herself in this genre. So much so, that her Barbadian clients are asking when she will be returning home. When she tells them she is already home, they tell her she as a ‘Bajanese’, a word creates from Bajan and Guyanese. Some of them have decided that they are coming to Guyana to have Denise sew their pieces.
Denise had indicated that she wanted to design costumes for Mashramani but was not afforded the opportunity. She is now looking forward to Mash 2020, where it was said that there will be a designers’ band on the road which will allow her to showcase several costumes.
Of the materials she uses to create her pieces, Denise likes working with velvet the most and dislikes working with silk-voile, stretch and sequined materials.
Just recently on a trip to New York after being considered a recipient for a humanitarian award Denise came across a textile store owned by a Guyanese businessman. This, Denise exclaimed, was like Christ-mas. There was so much beautiful cloth that she just could not choose, but finally selected seven pieces. With the limited variety of cloth available in Guyana, the designer has plans with the business owner to have him ship pieces for her. Outfits made from the seven pieces will be among the collection at the Arts and Fashion Festival runway next Saturday night at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.
This is Denise’s second local collection since her return. The first was launched this year at the Arthur Chung Convention Centre on March 10. Thirty-four models flaunted her pieces. However, because the event was hosted under Cineffx, she had to forego the use of her name or the name of her business.
At 57 years old, Denise is going stronger than ever and has numerous designs on paper she wants to bring to fruition though she plans on getting more staff to assist in the physical work of it. As someone who strongly believes in women empowerment, she advises women to remain strong, do what is needed of them and stay positive despite the circumstances they may be facing. “Don’t ever put yourself down. Always try to look your best every time you step out. Stay clean and nice and tidy; if you can be fashionable, be fashionable. That’s why I sew these nice, beautiful garments, to give women the boost to their self-confidence to make them feel good.” Denise shared also that she had been in an abusive relationship for 17 years and managed to break free, knowing that she was worth more. She encourages women to value themselves, to find their purpose and live it.
Aside from getting involved in the designers’ band for Mashramani 2020, Denise will be working with the Ministry of Education teaching youths to sew. Currently she works from her home in Diamond but intends to have a location in the city come next year.
Persons wanting her services would need to put in their request for their pieces, at least two weeks in advance.
What does she do in her free time? “I have to create free time,” she said. “My family is always telling me that I need to take a day off and now I am taking the weekends off but with the fashion show coming up, I have no free time. When I do have free time, I like going to the casino at Princess.” Her hobbies include listening to any kind of music especially Reggae and Soul, hanging out at the beach, socializing, travelling, reading romance and mystery novels and watching television.
“Easy-go lucky” is how she refers to herself and Denise is as down-to-earth as one can be, as well as compassionate and humble but when it comes to her family and business, she can be very serious. A Leo, Denise said she never holds a grudge.
Her favourite dishes are pepperpot, seven curry, and sweet meats, and cou-cou and flying fish.
Hibiscus Couture House of Fashion will host the Hibiscus Couture Festival of Arts and Fashion next Saturday night. Tickets for this event can be acquired by contacting Denise on Facebook at Hibiscus Couture House of Fashion.
