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TTDC HEADLINESAnnual Fashion show reaches a decade.New term elections in May. Panel Discussion series reinstated: Naipaul deconstructed. Annual Fashion show reaches a decade.  This year's annual fashion show marks the 10th year as an event on the social calendar for Trinbagonians in DC. Titled "A Grand Affair" by organisers, the Woman's Committee, the show will feature Trinidad-based designer Claudia Pegus returning for her third year. US-based designers Sharrone Mitchell from Detroit making her first appearance at the show, Jennifer Selman returning for a second time, and Renée Achille, both of DC will also appear. This year's event, which returns to the Andrew's Air Force Base Fox Den Enlisted Club, promises to surpass the previous years' in scope and style. Pat St. Hill, coordinating the event for the fourth year says that, "in celebration of the Association's fortieth, we have to do something grand." She continues: "Because of this, I felt that Claudia Pegus who has been a good friend to the Show would make a great choice." Pegus brings with her 25 years of experience in the international fashion industry. She has impacted generations with her fashion sense working as a consultant and a couturier Sharrone Mitchell uses her experience as a trained dancer to give a distinctive character to her wearable art. A professional whose work has been featured in media publications and video, she and her company, By Sharrone, Inc. have been called "the reliable source for elegant and culturally significant fashions." Jennifer Selman continues her ascent in fashion among Caribbean-born designers in the area. A graduate of FIT and Parson's School of Design, Jennifer belies her day-job status as VP of Crown Bakery by assembling a fashion line that incorporates use of tropical material to showcase her Caribbean roots. Newcomer, Renée Achille, a model at the previous shows, debuts as a designer with her "Touch of Mas'" themed line of clothing. She admits to not being a professional designer--although she is spearheading design for new DC mas' outfit KomessKrew--so that her inspiration has been generally practical more than academic. The Woman's Committee is handling the organisation of the show for the fourth year after taking up the mandate held by the Special Events Committee under the leadership of Thayer McKell. It continues the tradition of showcasing Caribbean bred designers in the area and from home, and acting as a fund-raiser. Over the ten years of its existence, the growing pains have manifested itself in myriad demands being made of the organisers. Appealing to men, skepticism by designers, getting full-figured models and designs for them, maintaining the interest of an ever-changing audience, and even a case of mauvais langue were some hurdles to be cleared by the organisers. All-in-all, the continued success of the Fashion Show that has a unique Caribbean flavour speaks well of its organisation. The festive atmosphere, the food and friends, down to the non-professional models give our Show its niche in the market. The challenge for the Association in the second decade of the Fashion Show is to take it from being simply a fund-raiser--albeit a profitable one--with informal connections and word-of-mouth marketing to a professionally managed tool for Trinidad and Tobago and Caribbean based designers to get a foothold in the US. Diversifying or expanding the range of designers is another suggestion that has come to the attention of Tan Tan. The Ebony Fashion Fair as a model of a successful fund-raiser, and the blue-print for a franchisable property for the use by other T&T Associations in the US is something to be looked into. Caribbean fashion has made a definitive step onto the world stage with the inaugural staging of Caribbean Fashion Week, held November 7-11, 2001 in Jamaica. The Association and this show can be a nexus for creative collaboration up here in the US.
The Trinidad and Tobago Association holds annual elections for the officers of the board on May 31 at the Cutural Center. The incumbent board members served for the last year amid testing challenges to the continuity of the Association. As in many organisations in democratic societies, there were demands on the board collectiviely and individually that were handled for the sake of the greater good of the Association. The continued existance of the Association after forty years and the ownership of its own building can silence the critics to the management style that is apt for an organisation like ours. Nomination day held on the last Friday of April saw the top five incumbents--President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer and Recording Secretary--not seeking re-nomination. Since no one offered themself for these post, nominations will be accepted up to election day. Other post holders have been re-nominated.
Howard University is the alma mater and employer of many "fine minds" in the community--in a sense the intellectual pole to the Delafield Road social and cultural pole. The exchange of ideas by Caribbean alumni and staff from this institution and others parallels the activities at the Association "Center" during the 1970s. Long serving members remembered those days, and were instrumental in reviving them now at these forums for the benefit of the community. Already there has been a talk on the "Constitutional Crisis in Trinidad and Tobago," (see Issue 1)and more are planned to connect the community with personalities, ideas and information. Trade Minister, Ken Valley is set to talk with nationals and well wishers--at the T&T Embassy for reasons of protocol--and matters ranging from immigration to culture are planned. Tan Tan will be covering all these events and electronic readers will have the added opportunity to hear and see streaming audio and video. On matters cultural, Drs. Gregory Rigsby and Michael Alleyne were asked to discuss and interpret the ideas and writings of Trinidad-born Nobel laureate in light of its currency and potential controversy. That night, April 23, proved to be a hotbed of discussion with a resulting pledge to have a Part II to that evening's "VS Naipaul in Perspective, Part I". Dr. Rigsby went even further by challenging the Association to reach outside the Trinbagonian community to our Caribbean brothers and sisters much to the pleasure of the lone Vincentian audience member. Tackling Naipaul in that evening's context proved enligtening with Dr. Alleyne, a QRC classmate of Naipaul's positing that Naipaul is a great writer, but a fraudulent philosopher: "He never got behind the characters to understand why they are the way they are. He proposes no prescription." Alleyne reminisced about the heady days at the island's top secondary school in the 1940s, QRC, both deconstructing the myth of Naipaul, "the cane farmer from Chaguanas who became a writer," and establishing a context for Naipaul's aversion of Trinidad. He said that the "wannabe" cricketer like himself was from a lower middle class family living "in town" that instilled in the young writer, like other families at that time, a belief that England was the only place to be a success: "An English degree, and English wife, and an English tongue!" Dr. Rigsby, former English professor at UDC, used the published letters between a seventeen to twenty-three year old Naipaul in England and his father and sister in Trinidad and India, "Between Father and Son". This correspondence reveals that many of the disliked ideas Naipaul has about women, Africans, Indians were established by that time. Like Alleyne, he rejects the myth of the "poor coolie" from the country noting that Naipaul's mother and father were educated in a time when Indians were not generally. His father was a journalist when Indians were not, and as such became the inspiration for the writer and artist. The posturing Naipaul, Rigsby suggests may be a product of familial relationships gone sour and animosity that influenced a young Vidia and as such marred his vision. His need for escape was reinforced by his mother, whom it may be interpreted, wanted to protect Naipaul from that animus present on her side of the family. Both panellists note that the need to please an audience that "pays the bills"--read White people to the detriment of others--is further evidence of his growing aversion of his roots, his Indianess, his Caribbeaness. He never came to terms with the colonial reality of Trinidad at that time thus paving the way toward his destiny as a critic of suppressed societies. Naipaul's depression did not help either. The mystery of VS Naipaul, a man who was never very forthcoming even at school plays on the minds of Caribbean people who he rebuke in The Middle Passage. A planned follow-up tackling that travel narrative is being finalised according to moderator, Nigel Scott. Our need to exchange ideas and challenge the myths and reckless posture of Naipaul is reflective of a community that seeks to distinguish itself as an energised ethnic community in the US capital. A man that put into print characters that are ourselves when others failed to or did not publish is to our benefit. The dated impressions of that people, this community, will be replaced by positive examples of mature collaboration and discussion such as these talks. Our challenge is to be heard over the din of the naysayers and xenophobes and reflect a society that is distinct and unique. These monthly discussions act towards that goal.
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A small gathering of like-minded persons witnessed the second in a new series of monthly panel discussions organised by the Association. Under the management of Harold McKell, this event which used to be a hallmark of Association activity during the 1970s and 1980s. The talks were revived at a time when there was an apparent lull in activity at the Cultural Center on Georgia Avenue during weekdays, and serves the additional function of reaching out to a segment of the community which seemed to retreat from the Association. A call was made to involve those members of the community who did not participate in the usual recreational and social activities to lend support to a resurgence and coalition of our intellectual capital.