LOCAL designer, Keisha Edwards, through her award-winning fashion brand, Shasha Designs, will be unveiling Moonlight Stories: The Lost City, on June 3 at the Marriott Hotel.

Dubbed the biggest gala and runway show in Guyana, Keisha promises a magical night filled with not only fashion and live entertainment, but also gold, glitter, glasses of wine, giveaways and endless fun.

The Buzz recently sat down with Keisha, who spoke about the upcoming annual event, which has created a lot of excitement in the fashion industry.

“Moonlight Stories will look at if we had a lost city, what it would look like,” she said as she encouraged Guyanese to come out dressed in black and gold to support Guyanese art and fashion.
A gold carpet instead of the usual red one, persons doing interviews and having their photographs taken and live music are among the new additions this year.

Moonlight Stories is one large collection split into two, and this year, Keisha’s collection will tell the story visually and from a historic point of view.

“The first part will be visually telling the story of having a unique people, having the invasion and how that invasion has slowly changed how they dress,” she excitedly related.

Moonlight Stories is a stand out show owing to the fact that it is uniquely Guyanese and Caribbean. And although this year’s theme is an old one, it holds a lot of significance in our modern society.

“It is also the old El Dorado versus the new because we have stories of people coming here for the pursuit of gold and wealth, and now we have oil. Some will argue that that is the new El Dorado,” she explained.

Keisha in pointing out the significance of Moonlight Stories to Guyana said: “It is Guyanese because we’re telling Guyanese stories, but it is also Caribbean because we share similar colonial pasts, we share people and we share history.”

With an impressive lineup of musical talent, a total of 14 designers including Randy Madray, House of Pearson, Olympia Eniola Small-Sonaram, Derek Moore, Sidney L Francois, Esther Samuels, Hashim Alli, Dexter Gardener and Roberto Teekah and sculptures done by fine artist Pikenya James, Moonlight Stories will be an exhibition put on by Guyanese for Guyanese and those foreigners who have eyes for fashion and the arts.

In keeping with the aim of being Guyanese, Keisha sees Moonlight Stories as an event that will benefit the country as a whole.

“Moonlight stories has the potential to diversify Guyana’s tourism,” she said.

Apart from the jobs it has supplied and the attention it has drawn to the country’s art and fashion industries, Moonlight Stories also aims to change the narrative and enhance people’s appreciation for Guyanese creatives.

As it relates to her fashion career, Keisha has managed to secure a foothold not only in Guyana but across the region and other parts of the world.

In February 2018, she was among several dozen designers and artisans who participated in the first ever Commonwealth Fashion Exchange programme. Her design was unveiled at a special reception at Buckingham Palace for London Fashion Week.

After completing fashion design studies in Trinidad and Tobago in 2020, Keisha returned home with a renewed sense of purpose. She wanted to not only recreate the atmosphere she had experienced first-hand, but she also wanted to increase exposure and support for Guyanese fashion designers and brands.

In her comments to Buzz she related that initially fashion wasn’t what she thought she would be doing as a career.

Like many who are blinded by public perception, she considered the traditional career paths. However, upon graduating from the University of Guyana, she found it hard to get a job and decided to use her talent as a way of creating a name for herself.

It all worked out, as today, Keisha has made a name for herself and is recognised as one of Guyana’s elite fashion designers. Her work has been displayed in London, the Unites States and St. Vincent.