Going it alone, Young fashion designer starts her own line

Sadeke Brooks, Staff Reporter

Only 18 years old and already Tricia Spencer is launching her own couture clothing line. The teenager, who is from Old Harbour, said she decided to launch her line, Virtuous Paragon, because she missed out on an opportunity to show the line at Caribbean Fashionweek last month.

"I was supposed to show at Caribbean Fashionweek this year, but a lot of complications presented themselves and I was not up to it entirely, so I just went out on my own to do this fashion show," she told The Sunday Gleaner.

Spencer said it was expensive to present her line on the show and "the sponsors were not presenting themselves as quickly as possible in time for the due date". In addition, she said it was difficult to mass produce the outfits which she makes herself.

Nonetheless, Spencer will be launching her items in a show called Ordained Wings, which will be held on the grounds of the St Joseph's Methodist Church, 33 East Street, Old Harbour, on July 23 from 6-7:30 p.m.

This, she said, would not have been possible without the help of her family, who she referred to as her investors.

Without formal training, Spencer said she hopes the fashion show will help her to get into a fashion school in the United States or United Kingdom.

"This show was really to get my portfolio ready to go to a fashion university abroad. I need a high portfolio that can set me on straight to get into one of those universities, and, to get some exposure for the line," said Spencer.

She explained that she had always had an interest in the fashion industry.

"Ever since I was younger, I was simply amazed by bodily silhouettes and the fact that you can get something on the person and it makes them look completely different," Spencer said.

Although her only training was clothing and textile, and art and craft at Excelsior High School, Spencer has been making her uniforms and outfits for others from as young as 14 years old.

Spencer explained she would outfit her friends to attend weddings and parties.

Without the formal training and being young, Spencer said she was often underestimated.

"That was one of the factors that presented itself with my doing Caribbean Fashionweek because when you are at a certain age, you will have people thinking that 'I have been in this industry for years and she is not gonna come and take my place or threaten it'. You have people who will always underestimate you," Spencer said, noting that she once had to make a video of herself making an outfit for someone to believe she made it.

"Simply because you are at a certain age, there is no substitute for creativity. There are gifted people in this world who can get a job done without going to a university."

Nonetheless, she says she plans to have her own company, which will do couture fashion and mass production under the name Virtuous Paragon.

She said she chose the name because, "I'm kind of a perfectionists when it comes on to my art, so I thought that if I was going to do a fashion line it had to be named off a mark of excellence and there is no other way to do it than the Virtuous Paragon, which satisfies everybody's needs, particularly my niche market."