Here comes the bridal – Ackeilia Caine expanding fashion footprint
Published:Friday | November 29, 2024 | 12:08 AMAinsworth Morris/Staff Reporter
With the festive season buzzing, so too are the swimsuit orders for fashion designer Ackeilia Caine, who just weeks ago welcomed her newest little one. As the year comes to a close, there is one other major achievement that she is still celebrating. That is the design and successful production of her very first custom bridal gown.
Now the chief executive officer of Trendzy by Ackeilia and Mission Catwalk Season 7 semi-finalist is looking forward to the future, expanding her fashion footprint with more custom pieces.
Caine said putting pencil to paper for the design came to her after meeting with the bride, Oralee Bras Fyffe, for the March wedding.
“Based on the consultation with the client, she said she wanted a spring wedding, so she wanted floral in terms of appliqué. She did not want the regular white wedding dress. It should be nude-based with white over it,” Caine told Living.
Though initially nervous, the ‘Mission Catwalk’ Season 7 contestant pulled on her experience making custom pieces.
“At first, because I’ve never done it, [a wedding dress, before], I was a bit nervous. I’ve made gowns before and dresses, so, to me, it was just making it in white for the occasion,” Caine shared.
The multi-layered convertible gown included a reception dress, which was quite the experience for Caine to construct.
“It was fun creating it. I did quite a few layers in terms of the trail. The dress itself was three-layered and the train, which can be removed, was three layers as well,” she said.
Caine said she is ready to explore the bridal arena with more gowns and “as much” as she “can manage”.
“I have a friend that specialises in bridal, who was on ‘Mission Catwalk’ with me, and whenever I talk to her, she always had a lot of wedding dresses doing or bridesmaids dresses, and she is always booked and busy, so as much as I can manage, and it’s new for me, so I would like to try different styles and so on,” Caine said, referring to fellow contestant Monique Morgan Allen.
Caine is from a family of seamstresses, which includes her mother, and great-grandmother, and she has a grandfather who still serves as a tailor.
“When I was smaller, I would always be using my family’s sewing machine, making stuff from primary school, so when I started high school and ‘Mission Catwalk’ did its first season, one of the contestants was my home economics teacher who started a fashion club at St Hugh’s High School, so that’s where I picked up most of my skills and learnt,” Caine, a former president for the fashion club at St Hugh’s High School, said.
She recently released her new swimsuit collection for the 2025 season, Soleil d’Or, French for ‘golden sun’. The line features golds and browns in a mix of mesh and spandex. She recently showed pieces from this collection and past lines at The Collection MoDA’s MoDA Market at Locale.
It’s all about balance for the mom of two, who recently gave birth to a second son. “I have a 3-week-old and a 2-year-old, so balancing business and family life has its challenges. However, I manage by prioritising immediate orders and organising my work based on timelines. My youngest was overdue, which disrupted some plans, but I remained determined and ensured everything got done.”
She is also thankful for the support of her village. “Thankfully, my aunt runs a daycare programme, so I send my eldest there when I have a heavy workload.”