By Newsday Reporter
Copyright newsday
Following its historic premiere on NBC’s Peacock, Carnival Catwalk, the ground-breaking Caribbean fashion competition show, officially launched in New York and was then officially featured as part of New York Fashion Week.
A media release said, the launch, held to increase awareness of the show in the American market, took place on September 8 at the Amber Room and was a star-studded affair. Among the guests were; Robert Kloos, Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to New York; Andre Laveau, Consul General of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago and Wendy Fitzwilliam, Miss Universe 1998 and head judge of Carnival Catwalk and Darryll Matthews, Minister of Education, Sports and Culture of Antigua and Barbuda among other esteemed guests.
Media, representing the likes of ABC News, NBC, iHeart Radio, Essence Magazine and fashion platforms such as Fashionably Petite, Style Lujo and The Sandbox, were also in attendance, the release said.
As a result of the show’s success, Carnival Catwalk was also invited to officially be a part of New York Fashion Week and to showcase nine of the designs from the show at the Caribbean Fashion Collective show held at the Metropolitan Pavilion on September 13. The showcase at the Caribbean Fashion Collective show landed pieces from Carnival Catwalk on powerful fashion platforms such as Harper’s Bazaar, USfashionfeatures.com, NewsAmericanow.com among other international fashion houses. At the forefront of the showcase was Trinidadian designer Naballah Chi who was a finalist on the show.
Carnival Catwalk is the first reality television series created and produced in TT to be acquired by a major US streaming network. The show was helmed by executive producers Jerome “Rome” Precilla, Gian Franco of Pavilion Entertainment, and Rodney Seemungal of SGP Studios, the release said.
In his welcome address, Precilla shared that the concept was born from a desire to see TT and Caribbean talent represented on a global stage.
“I felt it was time for us to stop sitting back and waiting for the large international networks to discover us and time for us to step up and show what we can do on our own. And right there and then, Carnival Catwalk was born. Fusing international fashion with what Trinidad is best known for, our Carnival,” he said.
He emphasised that the show is more than just costumes.“We have our culture, the beauty of our islands, the flamboyance of our people, mixed with high fashion design and reality TV drama, all fused into one show. There is even an unexpected love story that emerged. The winner of the show not only won 100,000 dollars but went on to be featured at Milan Fashion Week and landed in the pages of Harper’s Bazaar and Vogue Italia,” he said.
Precilla thanked the Government of TT for their support, along with all the sponsors and partners who believed in the vision and the team.
