For Old Year’s Night…
FEMALE clothing, designed to demonstrate, for women, how they must dress to maintain their self-respect while looking attractive, will be the highlight of a fashion show in Family Tabernacle of Worship, Zee Lust (Number Five Village) West Coast Berbice tonight.

The Old Year’s Night event starts at 21:00 h and the garments will be displayed by the New York based ‘God’s Creation I am’ (GCIA).

The organisers said the line will attest that dresses can be fashionable yet modest.

“The woman’s body is being exploited today, for example, in commercials. Women are being exploited by way of their sexuality and we are looking to preserve the sacredness of it. We are teaching modest dressing and women’s empowerment and we will display clothing for young girls and women that emphasise virtue and dignity, as part of our mission,” said Ms. Jeanette Gomes, founder member of the GCIA.

The organisation was established in New York in 2007, with the aim of empowering women to live purpose driven and sanctified lives through faith based counselling, as a form of behaviour modification. It produces clothing which promotes modest dressing by young women.

Gomes said: ”A lot of women think that modest clothing is old women’s but it is not. What we are doing is taking modern clothing and modifying it to make it just as attractive.”

She said GCIA makes dresses and skirts that are knee length or below, so that, when a woman sits, she can cross her legs and her skirt does not rise above the thighs.

Gomes said waistlines are all flowing and not tight to accentuate the body shape and, to some dresses, GCIA adds tank tops, so that the cleavage is not exposed when a woman leans over and there would not be any exposure of the breast area.

According to her, the sleeves, too, are just above the biceps, fully covering the under arms and breasts.

“We are against the exposure of the female body. Our tops, such as shirts and blouses, are up to the thigh area, four inches below the waist, so that, when a woman sits, there is no exposure of the belly or back,” she added.

Gomes said GCIA introduced the clothes in New York shortly after its formation and they are generally on sale at www.godscreationiam.com

The programme tonight includes the handing over of certificates to several women who have successfully completed a one-week course on GCIA core values, such as personal and professional goal setting, modest dressing, sound speech and social skills.

Gomes said the objective of GCIA is to set up a local chapter in West Berbice that would embrace young and women of all ages, regardless of their religious following or ethnicity.

They will be trained in faith based counselling to help others in the community who are grappling with issues of self-esteem and attitudinal problems which prevent them from reaching their full potential, she said.