KRISTY RAM­NAR­INE

kristy.ram­nar­ine@cnc3.co.tt

With just five days’ no­tice, Lana No­bre­ga had to pull off the im­pos­si­ble. But when her Car­ni­val cre­ations ex­plod­ed on­to the New York Fash­ion Week (NYFW) run­way, the crowd’s stand­ing ova­tion proved she had turned pres­sure in­to pure spec­ta­cle.

For 25 years,No­bre­ga has been shap­ing the spec­ta­cle of Car­ni­val, de­sign­ing show-stop­ping cos­tumes for Tribe and Bliss. She’s no stranger to dead­lines or high-pres­sure en­vi­ron­ments, but noth­ing pre­pared her for the thrill of NYFW.

From Sep­tem­ber 10 to 14, Sony Hall ig­nit­ed with colour, rhythm, and pageantry as Run­way 7 de­liv­ered one of the sea­son’s most ex­hil­a­rat­ing show­cas­es.

Among the high­lights was No­bre­ga, a Tribe Group di­rec­tor, un­veil­ing five daz­zling Car­ni­val cre­ations. Her de­signs trans­port­ed au­di­ences from the steel­pan rhythms of Port-of-Spain to the gold­en glow of sun­set pa­rades, in­fus­ing NYFW with the vi­bran­cy of Trinidad Car­ni­val.

The NYFW in­vi­ta­tion came as both a sur­prise and a chal­lenge.

“Just five days be­fore the show, I was in­formed I had been se­lect­ed for the pres­ti­gious Run­way 7 project,” she re­called.

Where oth­ers might have baulked at the im­pos­si­ble time­line, No­bre­ga rose to the chal­lenge.

“As one of the lead de­sign­ers of Tribe and Bliss, cre­at­ing un­der pres­sure is noth­ing new,” she said.

“Man­ag­ing teams and de­liv­er­ing elab­o­rate cos­tumes un­der tight time­lines gave me the re­silience and cre­ativ­i­ty need­ed for a mo­ment like New York Fash­ion Week.”

Armed with grit, imag­i­na­tion, and the spir­it of a mas woman, No­bre­ga packed, prepped, and de­liv­ered a show that left fash­ion in­sid­ers in awe.

Set to Bun­ji Gar­lin’s 2025 hit Car­ry It, her pre­sen­ta­tion pulsed with bold colours, dra­mat­ic feath­ered back­packs, and Car­ni­val’s elec­tri­fy­ing joy.

“My in­spi­ra­tion was Car­ni­val it­self–the rhythm, the joy, the bold­ness,” she ex­plained.

“Car­ni­val cos­tumes are about sto­ry­telling through feath­ers, gems, and move­ment. For this col­lec­tion, I want­ed to cel­e­brate that em­pow­er­ment while tai­lor­ing it for the high-fash­ion run­way.”

For No­bre­ga, show­cas­ing the artistry of mas mak­ers and the essence of Car­ni­val was para­mount.

“I want­ed peo­ple to see that Car­ni­val is not just a par­ty—it’s art, his­to­ry, and iden­ti­ty. I stay true to its roots—the feath­ers, the beads, the free­dom—but ex­per­i­ment with sil­hou­ettes and pre­sen­ta­tion so that it res­onates in both fes­ti­val and fash­ion con­texts.”

When her vi­brant de­signs—Guazu, Sir­aj, Navi, Poin­ciana (a trib­ute to St Kitts and Nevis’ na­tion­al flower), and a fifth un­ti­tled cos­tume cre­at­ed in just one day—stormed the run­way, the au­di­ence erupt­ed in cheers, screams, and a stand­ing ova­tion.

“That re­ac­tion was un­for­get­table,” she said.

“Peo­ple weren’t just clap­ping po­lite­ly; they were en­gaged, feed­ing off the en­er­gy of the cos­tumes. Af­ter­ward, many told me how moved they were by the de­signs.”

For No­bre­ga, the mo­ment was more than a fash­ion show­case. It was the cul­mi­na­tion of a cre­ative jour­ney that be­gan decades ago, de­sign­ing for the leg­endary Poi­son band.

To­day, with the Tribe Group, she con­tin­ues to shape the fu­ture of Trinidad and To­ba­go’s great­est cul­tur­al ex­port.

“To bring the essence of Trinidad and To­ba­go’s Car­ni­val, our colours, vi­bran­cy, and free­dom of ex­pres­sion, to a glob­al stage was sur­re­al. I felt like I was car­ry­ing a piece of my coun­try with me. The en­er­gy in the room re­mind­ed me of home.”

She be­lieves the world is ready for more Caribbean fash­ion.

“There’s so much tal­ent and cul­ture in our re­gion, and in­ter­na­tion­al au­di­ences are cap­ti­vat­ed by its unique­ness. It’s fresh, it’s bold, and it’s ex­act­ly what glob­al fash­ion craves.”

In New York, No­bre­ga didn’t just present cos­tumes, she car­ried the soul of Car­ni­val on­to one of the world’s biggest fash­ion stages.

And if the crowd’s re­sponse was any in­di­ca­tion, the world is more than ready to em­brace it.