Cherisse Moe

To­day, as Trinidad and To­ba­go marks Eman­ci­pa­tion Day, style serves as a medi­um for sto­ry­telling, cul­tur­al pride and her­itage. Glob­al­ly, African fash­ion con­tin­ues to ex­pe­ri­ence a ma­jor re­nais­sance, mak­ing its way on­to run­ways and in­to main­stream re­tail mar­kets. Rich tex­tiles, Ankara prints and ar­ti­sanal crafts­man­ship show how his­to­ry meets mod­ern lux­u­ry. Lo­cal­ly, cre­ators stand among the best when it comes to cloth­ing and jew­ellery drawn from the moth­er­land.

Natasha Sandy, own­er of Natasha Sandy Im­agery, makes eye-catch­ing ac­ces­sories that el­e­vate any en­sem­ble. She be­gan her artis­tic jour­ney as a hair­styl­ist be­fore even­tu­al­ly launch­ing her line of wear­able art state­ment pieces five years ago. Re­flect­ing on the sig­nif­i­cance of the day, she shares, “It means free­dom, free­dom to speak with­out fear, to ex­press with­out be­ing vic­timised, know­ing where we came from and where we are go­ing. The pro­mo­tion of tra­di­tion­al de­signs is im­por­tant be­cause it keeps us aware of our cul­ture and in­formed on ma­te­ri­als used, weav­ing pat­terns, etc.”

Mean­while, Car­ol Prince Man­dela’s Prindela Fash­ions has re­mained a fa­mil­iar pres­ence in African wear since 1999. Op­er­at­ing as an im­porter of au­then­tic gar­ments and pieces, she col­lab­o­rates di­rect­ly with cre­ators from Ghana, Nige­ria and the Ivory Coast to bring orig­i­nal crafts­man­ship home. Eman­ci­pa­tion Day, she notes, serves as a trib­ute to her an­ces­tors while en­sur­ing wear­ers look and feel their best.

“To me, it is a way of cel­e­brat­ing who we are as a peo­ple. It is a time to re­joice and give thanks.”