Dr Safeeya Mo­hammed 

guardian.wemagazine@gmail.com

Yonge Dun­das Square was trans­formed in­to a fash­ion and cul­tur­al ex­trav­a­gan­za for the re­cent 2023 edi­tion of African Fash­ion Week of Toron­to (AFWT). De­signs of Omzad Khan and Nigel East­man, the Point Fortin-based fash­ion duo, were the on­ly Caribbean de­sign­ers show­cased at AFWT.

Their sig­na­ture line–hand-paint­ed tan, brown and beige linens were sta­ples among oth­er vi­brant pieces, rep­re­sent­ing the en­er­gy of the glam­orous Caribbean woman. “That is our clien­tele: the woman who un­der­stands fash­ion, who wants to cre­ate that WOW as she en­ters the room,” says East­man. In 2000, the duo col­lab­o­rat­ed to cre­ate Zadd & East­man, which is one of the Caribbean’s lead­ing fash­ion la­bels.

They have styled the Gram­my Award-win­ning group Des­tiny Child, Nom­ce­bo and sev­er­al T&T pageant queens and fash­ion­istas. With the sup­port from the Trinidad & To­ba­go Con­sulate in Toron­to and ex­porTT, Zadd & East­man’s colour­ful de­signs were al­so dis­played at a ‘Cut­tin’ Style’ fash­ion show cu­rat­ed by Joan Pierre.