Saint Fashion Face of the Caribbean delivers stunning new talent

With 20 years of history bubbling to a boil, last Sunday night Deiwght Peters and his band of merry models took the AC Hotel Kingston by storm for the Saint Fashion Face of the Caribbean Competition.

With 43 female and 38 male contestants, the cohort of future fashionistas displayed the skills and talents that they honed over the past month with the assistant of the Saint International CEO himself.

Addressing the audience early in the night, Peters cooed over this year’s class.

“We’ve seen hundreds of new faces and they’ve gone on to do the country proud. When you see this new group, you’ll have seen there was not one, not two, not even 10, but at least 20 great prospects,” he said.

Taking the stage, the contestants aimed to impress the panel of judges, which included local stakeholders as well as fashion experts from Italy, Spain, the USA, the UK, Germany.

With performance by local artistes Tina, J’Calm and Saint favourite D’Angel scattered in-between, the time soon came for the judges to narrow it down to the top three. Of the male contestants, Peters began by saying the third-place choice was a shock to him but he “fully endorses it”.

Taking the third-place spot was Nikul Patterson. The 17-year-old, clad in a blue suit and white turtleneck, with equally white trainers, stood at a towering 6 feet 3 inches. Never breaking character all through his victory lap, the teen remained stoic.

Claiming second was 16-year-old Sajar Graham. Even taller than the last, Graham stood at 6 feet 4 inches and hails from Swayne Spring, St Andrew.

While the audience’s elation for the first and second runner-up was obvious, the ante was upped when 18-year-old Deandre Carr was announced as the male winner for the Saint Fashion Face of the Caribbean Competition.

“This one could get me emotional, because we also found him a few weeks ago,” he Peters said in reference to Carr.

“Recently, his mom told me that he said to her, ‘Look, this [is] the opportunity. I have to make it happen just for you mom.’”

Peters said when he laid eyes on the 6-foot 3-inch teen from Denham Town, Kingston, he told his team, “Make sure you find his mom. Get him to come to the training.”

After allowing the trio to take the runway once more, he moved on to the female delegates.

Taking third place was 16-year-old Bianca Baccas. Unable to hold in her excitement, the Kingston-based teen floated onto the stage with her hands seemingly permanently affixed to her mouth. Though her blue cocktail dress was stunning, one could hardly look away from her trying to conceal her smile.

Ayanna Jamieson was then announced as the second-place winner. The youngest female in the competition, the 14-year-old stands at 5 feet 10 inches and is from Hughenden, Kingston.

Wasting no time, Peters was anxious to announce Arianna O’Connor as the winner.

The 18-year-old from Spanish Town, St Catherine, made an early impact on the audience, and seemingly the judges, with her aggressive signature walk. Her shoulders hunching and her arms swinging, the 5-foot, 9 1/2- inch Carl Bramwell protégé was at a loss for words.

“As you can see, I am a deer in headlights,” she quipped, showing of her smile for the first time.

Providing the words she lacked in the moment, Peters declared, “Well done, Arianna! I am so proud of you ... you deserve it.”

Turning to the audience, he shared, “Arianna’s walk changed about a week ago, so when I see Arianna step out inna the training I say to the people dem, ‘Wull on deh, she ‘tep strong.’ I deliberately decided not to say anything to her about her walk. I said, just do your thing. And you’ve made it.”

Giving the audience another taste of her now famous stride, O’Connor swung her bag over her shoulder and took the runway for the final time of the evening.

shanel.lemmie@gleanerjm.com