The Tribune

A Bahamian is among seven designers selected by the Caribbean Export Development Agency (Caribbean Export) to attend Dominicana Moda (DM2013) in Santo Domingo, the Dominican Republic, from October 21-26, 2013.

The seven fashion design firms are Indira Moss’s Ilashan Apparel & Handmade Jewelry from the Bahamas; the Andrew Harris Collection of Barbados; Odanis Valdez Polonia from the Dominican Republic; MARSAE of Guyana; Mag Art from Haiti; Patwa Apparel from Jamaica; and MEILING from Trinidad and Tobago.

The selection panel included Socrates Mckinney, the artistic director of Salon de la Fama SRL; Adolfo Lucero, the deputy director of Escuela Chavon (affiliated with Parsons School of Design); and Ileana Tejada from Caribbean Export.

The team reviewed 27 applications from across the Caribbean and scored them on criteria such as completeness of application; availability of collections that will be showcased; experience and potential to export their talent at an international level.

With the exception of MEILING, all the designers selected are new talent to DM2013, who will participate in all the activities revolving around the event and present their collections on the runway.

Some designers will be selected to showcase their collections in the designer’s mall only.

Over the past eight years, Dominicana Moda has grown to be the official Fashion Week of the Dominican Republic, the most important platform for the industry. Throughout its history it has become the fastest-growing runway show in the Latin American region.