Guyanese Fashion Designer, Junette Stuart, is preparing to ‘step out’ into the glare of a bigger, more dazzling stage on one of the world’s best-known fashion capitals of the developed world, the United Kingdom. Junette is all set to get on a plane to London in order to see where her talent will take her. Back in April, Junette received notification from Caribbean Global Awards that in recognition of her contribution to the fashion industry in the region she was being invited to travel to London to join with other Fashion Designers from the region in celebrating the work of the Caribbean fashion Design Community.
Speaking with the Stabroek Business on the recognition that her work had afforded her, Stuart said that she will be traveling to London in response to Caribbean Global Awards’ notification because she felt that a positive response would not only be good for her but for the fashion design industry as a whole. Stuart said that while she had decided to travel to the United Kingdom at her own expense, she believed that “the payback in terms of furthering her own brand as well as the ‘Guyana brand’” in the fashion industry was more than worth the undertaking.
Asked whether she had sought the support of government and the business community in pursuit of what would be a costly undertaking to travel to London to participate in the event Stuart told the Stabroek Business that she had notified some government officials and business persons of her undertaking and was hoping that they may recognize her decision to participate in the event in London to be an undertaking that was designed to shine a light on the fashion industry in Guyana at a time when the country was attracting a great deal of international attention on account of the changes that are taking place in the country’s economy.
Describing the event as “an extravagant ceremony,” the organizers have said that “the Hybrid Awards will be held to recognize the numerous achievements made by Caribbean people who have significantly impacted every sector of the economy.” Stewart told the Stabroek Business, meanwhile, that she would be communicating with the Guyana High Commission in London, through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to notify the High Commission of her presence in the United Kingdom and to collaborate with the organizers of the event to secure an invitation for Guyana’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom to attend the event.
Stabroek Business has been informed that this year’s Hybrid event will also honour the Caribbean survivors of the Windrush episode, a seminal moment in the history of relations between Britain and the Caribbean.
