CELEBRATED Guyanese designer Pamela Fox launched her latest creations – The Hummingbird Collection – in the British Virgin Islands to a sell-out crowd on Friday, April 13, 2012 at the Chic Fashion Revolution runway show held in Tortola. Fox’s introduction to the Virgin Islands market was organized by Green Mango Media (GMM), a London-based company owned by Guyanese-born Amanda and Andrea Wilson and British journalist, Matt Falloon.

GMM recently secured a partnership with Fox to promote her designs outside of Guyana, with the BVI being the first stop along the road to showcasing what the Caribbean has to offer the world of haute couture.
The Hummingbird Collection — bright, classic and funky — was a runaway success on launch night, drawing a huge crowd of islanders and tourists to Captain Mulligan’s Bar and Restaurant in Nanny Cay to marvel at the season’s new must-have garments and accessories from one of the Caribbean’s best-kept secrets.
“I am so pleased with all the wonderful responses the collection has received. I tried to cater for both conservative and daring people and it’s a dream come true to win so many new fans in a new part of the Caribbean,” Fox said.
“I threw my heart and soul into preparing this; in many ways, it’s been years in the making to get this far, and I am so proud of what we have all achieved. My team really pulled out all the stops, combining cotton and silk easy-to-wear pieces; accessorized sandals; bags and jewellery made with real leather and alligator and snake-skin; Amazonian beads; and what you would call my trademark — intricate crocheted details.”
Born on a plantation deep in the lush Amazonian heart of Guyana, Fox has the inspiration of nature’s beauty in her blood and the spirit of adventure in her heart. She has built a reputation for quality, classy leather and crocheted designs; one of her original crocheted handbags was even featured on the United States soap, ‘All My Children’ in 2006.
Fox’s designs were also featured as the spotlight collection in the first edition of GMM’s Chic Fashion 2012 Catalogue, which was launched at the show, as a window into the world of the crème de la crème of Caribbean design.
“We have so many unbelievably talented and original designers in the Caribbean, among the best the world has to offer, but we rarely get to see their work because of a lack of promotion and a lack of investment. Green Mango Media is going to change all that with this great catalogue and well-funded, world-class runway shows from only the best designers in the region – celebrating the latest trends from our most creative minds for all to see,” said GMM’s Amanda Wilson, who cut her teeth in the field of journalism at the Guyana Chronicle but now lives and works in London.
“We hope it will inspire a new wave of young designers in the Caribbean, drive a fresh stream of orders for Caribbean-designed clothing, encourage investment in Caribbean fashion from investors at home and abroad, and also spur governments in the Region to grease the wheels of the industry so that we can really turn this sector into a world beater in the same way that we have with our Region’s wonderful music and world-class athletics,” Amanda said.
The Fox fashion show was promoted in the British Virgin Islands in partnership with Jahphix Television (Cable Channel 55), and Road Town Wholesale, and word is that the orders are unsurprisingly already flooding in.
“We chose to launch Pamela’s new range in the BVI because her designs suit this dynamic and diverse market: They are colourful, sassy, sexy and elegant; there’s something perfect for every kind of woman,” said Andrea, the older of the Wilson sisters, who also worked with the Guyana Chronicle before leaving for the BVI, where she now resides.
“It was also important to us as a company,” she added, “to use this great occasion to showcase what we are trying to achieve with Chic, and with designers like Pamela. People come from all over the world to enjoy the beauty and tranquility of these islands. What better place is there – than a top tourism spot such as the BVI – to start advertising Caribbean style to the rest of the globe?”
GMM has also secured Fox a coveted marketing niche, in that she now dresses the Virgin Islands’ top female personality, Tamara Archibald Gill of the Tami Live Show, broadcast on Jahphix Television every Sunday and repeated in the Turks and Caicos, St Kitts, the United States Virgin Islands, and the Cayman Islands.
The company is also scheduled to take Fox’s new Resort Collection to the United States Virgin Islands next month.
Chic Fashion is a quarterly publication.
(Reprinted and modified from the First Edition of the Chic Fashion 2012 catalogue)