The Big Apple Mall is one of those trading spaces in the capital, the creation of which coincided with the emergence of fresh waves of urban small businesses, for some of which the new Mall had provided more convivial trading spaces than the living rooms and streets from where they had been trading. The Mall served to lend a greater sense of authenticity to the ‘exotic’ trading names that these enterprises boasted. The Big Apple, situated on Robb Street (immediately east of the premises of the Guyana Publications Ltd or The Stabroek News) quickly attracted occupants that included hair dressers, cosmetologists and assorted traders in clothing and cosmetics.
These days, the Big Apple Mall has significantly increased its volumes of ‘foot traffic’, and in the process, raised the profiles of its occupants whose numbers reflect the accelerated growth of urban consumerism that has engulfed Georgetown in recent years. Seamstress Kendra Christian had left Kwakwani, along with her husband and two daughters, to seek out what Guyanese commonly refer to as ‘betterment,’ utilizing the ‘openings’ and opportunities considered to be more generously available in the capital. She had brought with her two sets of motivations – the first, to ‘see to’ the education of her children, and secondly, to probe the possibility of enhancing what had, from childhood, been an intense ambition to become a ‘first rate’ seamstress.
That latter objective had had its origins in a childhood passion for sewing, a passion that eventually became honed into skills that ‘turned out’ clothing that ranged from school uniforms to leisure wear. Kendra’s career as a seamstress had ‘begun’ at the age of ten when her father had gifted her a sewing machine. It was this that had elevated her ambition above the tedious ‘needle and thread’ routine that had first given meaning to her passion. Pretty soon, however, her ambition became extended beyond ‘running up little dresses,’ for girls in the community to developing a wider ‘business interest’ in the pursuit, not least in the enormously appealing market for school uniforms.
The family’s eventual move from the limited opportunities afforded by Kendra’s ambition eventually saw a complete ‘migration’ to the capital. Her husband and children apart, Kendra’s ‘belongings’ included a ‘suitcase of ambitions’ one of which was to release her passion for sewing on an urban market that far exceeded the much more limited one which Kwakwani had offered. The challenges that came with the transition became immediately apparent. The family had originally moved to New Amsterdam and afterwards, to Georgetown, where the ‘openings’ for talented (and reliable) seamstresses became immediately apparent. It threw open a fresh perspective on Kendra’s ambitions.
She had come to the capital at a time when the enhanced urban passion among women, particularly, with entertainment, and by extension, with its attendant attractions had significantly boosted the market for the skills of seamstresses. Whereas some of the earliest responses to the urban clothing craze appeared to favour the importers of foreign brands, the ‘craze’ among Guyanese women for ‘original’ creations begun to make its presence felt, further throwing open the door to skilled seamstresses. Kendra’s circumstances, however, did not afford her the opportunity to barge in. Affordability considerations that prevented her from creating a brand new ‘fashion house’ that would attract an enormous clientele slowed her ambitions, though her passion to grow remained undiminished.
These days Kendra occupies a space inside the Big Apple Mall which she shares with an enterprise that specializes in fashion clothing. (Name of other enterprise to be inserted shortly)
During her interview with the Stabroek Business, Kendra insisted that the basic skills that she had acquired – with the aid of her father’s sewing machine gift – now contributes significantly to the attention that she pays to the transformation that the local fashion industry has undergone. Beyond that, she believes that her own particular skills as a seamstress can add value to the contemporary transformations and preferences which the country’s broader fashion industry is undergoing. Essentially, she believes that while fashion preferences have evolved to keep pace with changing tastes, the critical skills associated with becoming a first-rate seamstress have, for the most part, remained the same.
In the interview, Kendra asserted that, over time, she had also developed tailoring skills associated with the creation of men’s trousers and was prepared to challenge herself to meet the strenuous demands of men whom, she says, can sometimes be even more ‘finicky’ about ‘finish,’ than women. The urban environment in which she plies her chosen trade poses far more imposing challenges than those that she had previously encountered in Kwakwani. What is clear, however, is that her focus reposes entirely in what she believes are the skills she had acquired and which were consolidated to a considerable degree by her father’s sewing machine gift all those years ago.
