Earlier this year, former Miss T&T Danielle Jones-Hunte was mid-way through a three-month professional sojourn in Mumbai, India, when she fell ill. A bout of dysentery, which coincided with chicken pox, landed her in the hospital for eight days.
"I was there for the monsoon season when the floods came, taking all that happens in India to the crops, and I like salads–so there you go," Jones-Hunte recalled in a recent interview.
But as sometimes happens in life, the unpleasant detour got her to a good place.
Her husband Quincy came to visit and they spent a couple of weekends touring Jaipur, known as the Pink City because that's the colour of many buildings there. The couple visited fabric stores that had their goods stacked almost 20 feet into the air, Jones-Hunte said.
"You walk into these shops and they turn on the lights–because they're very energy-conscious in India–and the first thing that hits you even before the lights is the colour and the vibrant prints," she said.
It was in one of these stores that something that had been to the back of Jones-Hunte's mind for years came to the front. Jones-Hunte, who placed fifth in the 2004 Miss Universe competition in Equador and has since modelled and appeared on the cover of magazines, wanted to try creating designs rather than just wearing them.
The mountains of colourful fabric acted like a muse.
"I felt this is it. I would like to take some of this home, and I am going to do this fashion line," said Jones-Hunte. "I designed my first shirt standing in one of those stores in India and the incredible tailors there put it together."
Jones-Hunte is preparing to launch her collection of men's shirts and leather handbags on October 1. The label will be called Hunted, a name derived from combining Jones-Hunte's married name with the letter at the start of her first name. The shirts and handbags will be sold at Home, the boutique in St Clair run by Anya Ayoung-Chee, who is also a former Miss T&T turned fashion designer.
Other experiences and observations in India inspired Hunted.
"Every man in India–whether you live in the slums of Dharavi or in the amazing high-rises that dot the Mumbai skyline–every man wears a shirt. They don't wear 'juh-zees'," said Jones-Hunte, pronouncing the word "jerseys" derogatively. "(Every man in India) wants to be a distinguished gentleman, and I said if I am going to do this fashion thing I want to start with men's fashion."
Jones-Hunte described the line as "mixed and match prints, embroidered-edge shirts with a modern urban twist". The collection was also influenced by a vacation Jones-Hunte had in Cuba this year.
"I feel like it's Cuba meets India here in Trinidad," she said of the line. The handbags are handmade in Dharavi, a place famous for its depiction in the hit film Slumdog Millionaire and also for its leather goods.
It isn't Jones-Hunte's first entrepreneurial venture. She co-owns Hair It Is–a hair extensions and products store in Woodbrook. But Hunted is different. These are products she created.
"I am so used to being on the PR side or the modelling side of it. I can sell for other people, but the confidence of your own creativity is a little harder to get out," she said. "The fear in my heart of putting these on display...It feels like, OK. Would people accept it?"
Although Jones-Hunte is primarily known for being a beauty queen, she's shown ability in many other fields. She has an undergraduate degree in environmental studies from Florida International University. After interning at the EMA, where she participated in community outreach, she decided to pursue communications at postgraduate level in Howard University, where she lectured for a year in public speaking.
All this was before the then 26-year-old became Miss T&T in 2004. For the past eight years, she's been involved in corporate communications.
It's been a challenge, she said, reconciling her professional career with the public's association of her as Miss T&T.
"Once a beauty queen always a beauty queen," she said. "I remember being on a job interview once–the only job I interviewed for and I didn't get–(the interviewer remarked), 'I don't see Miss T&T on your resume.' And being the quick-witted person I can be–which is also a pro and a con–I said, 'My master's degree is there though.
"I can look back and understand where they were going," she said. "It's a label that stays with you forever, so you need to appreciate that and understand it."
Overall the pageant experience has been invaluable. Jones-Hunte still has the sash and the dress she wore from the opening segment of the Miss Universe competition.
"I'll never forget that night," she said. "And what I learned about fashion, media, stage production and event production from going to Miss Universe will never be forgotten and it's very much a part of who I am. I think it made me a better professional today."
�2 More info: vimeo.com/hunted.
