MAD about the LINE

Details

Fashion & Beauty

Saturday, 20 June 2009 05:55

By azur wadadli

MAD, in emotional terms, doesn’t begin to describe Antigua’s newest designers' arrival on the fashion scene. But breaking down the acronym, you get Make A Difference – Life In New Egypt. Put it together and M-Line has strutted heavily unto the runway, debuting at Strut Model Agency’s Experience Eden.

Bringing something new and fresh to the runway, M-Line was created, designed and even sewn by Dillan “Scooby” Joseph and Michael “Ratty” Emmanuel Antoine. Maximising on the ever popular urban styles, the short cuts, edgy style and airbrushed touch will definitely make M-Line a hit among the younger fashion crew.

But these young men are not only about fashion. In fact, they’re using their fashion to carry a message to the wearers. Injecting a burst of African culture, they’re taking their patrons back to ancient African traditions with symbols and signs still engraved on many tombs in Egypt.

From the Star of David, as seen on one of the models in the fashion show, to the Eye of Heru, the Ankh and other signs, Joseph says he hopes that once people build an interest in M-Line, they’ll also take a conscious approach to what they’re wearing and the reflection of their African Heritage that it embodies.

Even the material has its symbolic message sewn into every stitch. Although their line only includes casual urban wear for now, as a special treat for the show, M-Line designed a gown for the director of the show, Anique Frederick. Decked in layers of chiffon, bound with a brilliant rainbow silk, Frederick proudly modelled the M-Line ensemble all night.

Explaining the deeper meaning behind one of his dresses onstage, Joseph noted that the model had requested something with a Gothic edge. Wanting to keep in synch with what M-Line represented, a sinister witch with two apples is shown grinning devilishly. The connection?

Set against the green of the dress, Joseph wanted to tie the dress into the night’s theme, dubbed Experience Eden.

“The witch,” he continues, “represents the deception ... and the evil that has been around since that time with Eve in the Garden of Eden ... remember the snake tricked her into eating the apple.” He fast forwards a number of centuries and combines the wicked witch/stepmother from the fairy tale classic Snow White – she too was deceived into consuming a poisonous apple.

Can you say deep? Well that’s exactly what M-Line wishes – to deeply penetrate the fashion industry in Antigua and Barbuda, taking fashion to a whole new level by adding meaning to every design.

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