By Wendella Davidson

GROWING up, she remembers that she liked to dress up, loved nice clothing, and as most little girls, had a penchant for wearing her mother’s shoes and posing with her handbags.
And as she grew older, whenever she wanted a new outfit, she would sketch the idea in mind on a sheet of paper and take it to the seamstress.

“I always wanted, whenever I showed up somewhere, to stand out and be different and not wear what everyone else was wearing,” said this feisty individual Denise Jennings, who would later spend over 20 years behind a sewing machine and is now a fashion designer who also loves to design costumes.

In an interview with the Pepperpot Magazine, Jennings reminisced on how her fantasy grew into a lifelong love and eventually a career.

On March 10, 2019, she staged a successful launch of a Couture Line at the Arthur Chung Convention Centre. The occasion featured 34 models, all in couture dresses that were sewn by Jennings. “Each dress was of a different form or different colour; it was a challenge, but I learnt how to use stretch taffeta, satin, velvet, lace and even fur.

“In Guyana, there are not many places that one can go with a long, flowing gown with a lot of fabric behind you, and couture is fabric with lots and lots of cloth. I designed a dress that can be worn at an evening outing or a wedding and fashioned to fit the Guyanese society,” she said.

She added that the fashion show went well and people have since been enquiring what’s next on her agenda, now that she is home permanently.

NEW TERRITORY
Jennings, who worked at a commercial bank before leaving these shores to live in neighbouring Barbados, remarked that while she liked fashion, she never thought that she would have become a fashion designer.

She left Guyana for Barbados, where she spent many years and eventually honed her skill as a seamstress.

“I had a function to attend and had difficulty in finding someone suitable to sew the kind of clothing that I wanted. It was a christening. I had to go to the church, so you know I had to dress appropriately. As frustration started to step in, I bought a piece of fabric, spread it out on the bed and using one of my old dresses, I set about cutting out and sewing the dress of my choice and likeness.

“I did it with my hands — the darts, the collar, the sleeves, the zipper – everything I put together with my hands and when I arrived at the function, I was surprised at the attention the dress generated. A lot of the ladies wanted to know where I got the dress or who sewed it because, according to them, it fit really nicely. They couldn’t believe their ears when I said that I did it and using my hands, those ladies all but undressed me to find out if I was speaking the truth,” she said.

Jennings also remembers being approached by an elderly woman at the function; the woman told her that one day she would be sewing for people. The woman went as far as to advise her to “learn to measure and cut out,” which served as an encouragement for her to begin sewing classes.

FROM SCRATCH
Jennings said that she joined the sewing class of a fellow Guyanese named `Yvette’, who as an assignment one day, requested of the students to partly sew a skirt using a pattern that was provided.

The students were mandated to finish the assignment for the next day of class, but according to Jennings, because she used to practise stripping old clothing and then putting them back together, as a form of sewing practice; she was able to complete the entire skirt without supervision. She also remembered the teacher, after viewing her work, being in awe at her expertise and remarking that she was “way above an elementary-class level.”

And, upon a suggestion by the teacher, Jennings said that she assisted in teaching the class in which there were students older than her, and some others who didn’t even know how or where to find the switch.

The new experience further built her confidence to the extent that she was motivated to start designing and hold her first exhibition. Lots of people visited the exhibition and purchased stuff that led her further.

FILLING THE GAP

She said that it was her disappointment in not finding a swimwear to fit her plus-size for an occasion that she was forced to sew one. “I just couldn’t find anything to fit me; it was either the bottom or the top was too small or vice versa,” she said with a hearty laugh.

Frustrated in not finding something suitable for herself, Jennings said she designed and stitched a swimwear that she wore on the beach, adding, that the style attracted the eyes of many, including Guyanese-born Joan ward.

It was after Ward was told that the apparel was done by Jennings, that she requested that the designer/seamstress put together a swimwear collection, specifically for plus-size women.
With the collection, Jennings said she had a photo-shoot and was also featured in a magazine.
“This began my actual journey into designing and more than 20 years on my machine in Barbados, doing fashionable wear, swimwear, school uniforms , working uniforms, curtains, sheets, pillowcases and almost anything that you can think can be sewn on a machine,” she said.

“I never turned away a job, and as word got around the island, I became more popular with the Bajan public,” she added, recalling that it was after she was featured on the cover of the `Barbados Today magazine, that she was further encouraged to do a fashion show in her homeland, Guyana.

BACK HOME
Jennings said she returned to Guyana two years ago and tried to connect with the “right” people to host a fashion show, after registering her business as` Hibiscus Couture Fashion. She thought of holding the fashion show at the Princess Hotel, but after a tour of the facility her production manager, Oral Welshman, who accompanied her, found the location unsuitable for what he wanted to portray.
I wanted to host a fashion show that was different from the `run-of-the-mill type’, an event that was in line with international standards, and Welshman wanted a production-style `Fashion and Movement’ affair, comprising choreography and fashion.

Earlier this year, Jennings said a few pieces of her work were featured at an event hosted by CineffX, the Caribbean’s Premier Photo and Film Expo, when she was asked to design six pieces for their mannequin model. The event was a tremendous success.

Jennings, also the fashion and marketing director of CineffX, said that the Guyanese public can expect a lot, hinting that a red-carpet gala is being planned for June at the Pegasus.

And, as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of her own company, `Hibiscus Couture Fashion, ’ Jennings said she has lots of surprises, including one for Easter in store for the fashion-loving Guyanese, even as she is toying with the idea of staging something involving only children.

With a love for designing costumes, Jennings said she wouldn’t mind getting into the act with other designers for the upcoming Independence Carnival.