Ryan Chan: Goddess Reign Collection

"Believe in yourself before you ask anybody to believe in you, do it as you see it in your vision. We are designers! We are all weird and that's perfectly normal. Just don't be afraid to be who you are. Just believe, create and inspire."

Those were the words of a young successful emerging designer out of Trinidad.

One might remember him from season two of Mission Catwalk. He's the guy with the funky hair who has a passion for draping. He's 26-year-old Trinidadian Ryan Chan who has become a household name as a designer not only in Jamaica, but also in the twin island republic.

Growing up in Trinidad was a simple-but-exciting life, Chan tells Outlook. "A country so full of culture would definitely be very inspiring for me or anyone else as an artist/designer. I grew up in a middle-class neighbourhood, with school right around the corner and family just a doorstep away. I would say growing up in Trinidad was very much that of typical 'Caribbean life'." Chan was always into art and creating from a very early age, and had an uncle that referred to him as the 'inventor'. But fashion designing came later on in life when he became more conscious of style and his ability to design.

When the young designer finally decided on what he wanted to do, he tells Outlook, his mother and sister were always his biggest motivators who "always believed in me and encouraged me to do what I love". With fashion designer Alexander McQueen as his biggest inspiration because he "made art out of fashion," Chan went out on a limb and signed up to be a part of the Mission Catwalk 2012 crew, even though he couldn't sew.

According to him, "Entering Mission Catwalk was not something I had planned. When I heard about it, I couldn't sew as well as I would have wanted to, but I took the chance anyway and it was an experience that I will never forget. Being around people who love doing what I do was tremendously inspiring. The competition, though, was tougher than I expected, but in the end, I met some amazing people and learnt many new things and got to experience beautiful Jamaica."

Rewarding

During a recent interview
with Outlook, Chan revealed that seeing his sketches
move from paper to life as well as making a person not only look but
feel beautiful is something that is very rewarding, and this is
something that has always resonated with him, even with the production
of his newest collection - Goddess Reign. He tells us, "My new line was
all about making a woman feel like a lady - sexy, elegant and in charge
of the room."

Fashion designing has been so good to
the designer that his next move, hopefully, will be "to open a boutique
with a big 'Ryan Chan' sign to greet customers above the door as well as
to include menswear in my brand," he says. Eventually, he hopes to take
his brand internationally to dressing celebrities on the red
carpet.

Here's a look at his Goddess Reign
Collection.

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G.G.