Ayanna Dixon's eye for style

Shanica Blair, Gleaner Writer

Fashion designer Ayanna Dixon recently staged her first fashion illustration exhibition at The Olympia Gallery. The designs show the diversification in fashion trends - designs that are hip, young and fashionable.

The solo exhibition featured more than 20 pieces, with art collectors,
designers and others coming out to view her works made using pen, mixed
media, buttons, glitter, and other materials.

Dixon told
Outlook that the aim behind the exhibition which ran
from March 14 to 22 was to put her work out there. "I have always been
good at illustrations. I have a natural knack for it. I would put them
on mugs, shirts, greeting cards; and people have always liked my work.
So I decided to do a show, and my birthday was the perfect time to open
it."

She told Outlook that her
signature style is elongated lashes on her subjects. "My distinct style
is the elongated lashes. Basically, what happened in school was that my
teacher used to complain because I would always get it wrong when
drawing the feet, hands and eyes. My eyes always came out cross-eyed. I
was messing around and I made a mistake with the eyelashes and I just
kind of elongated it to make it look better and my teacher was like,
'Oh, that is so cute, that looks really cool', and that just became my
thing," she said.

Younger crowd

The
entrepreneur who began her career as a fashion model said that her
pieces are geared towards a younger crowd.

Her mother
is a trained textile designer and her father is a successful architect,
so Dixon has the love for designing running through her veins. Trained
at the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts and the Art
Institute of New York, she revealed that she doesn't like sewing that
much anymore as she prefers to do illustrations and depictions. "What's
interesting is that, when I started fashion designing, I used to like
the whole design process, not only the illustrative artwork. But now
what I realise is that I don't love sewing as much again. I love
designing. So typically, what I do is have the samples and give it to a
team of women who assist me. They are really creative and good at
recreating them."

Since starting her company, Dixon
has shown at The Collection MoDa 2013, alongside local and international
designers. Her collection, E. 23, was well received and she was the
recipient of First Global Bank's fashion grant. Dixon was also one of
four designers who represented Jamaica at the International Fashion
Showcase in London last month, an experience she describes as
interesting and
eye-opening.

shanica.blair@gleanerjm.com