I am a native of Jamaica, but have made my home in upstate New York for many years. Jamaica had been a British colony for nearly three hundred years, and became independent as I was growing up. The Jamaican lifestyle is a blend of Caribbean traditions and proper British values, including a very structured educational system that includes uniforms for all schoolchildren. As such, a Jamaican woman takes pride in her appearance and her uniqueness.
My mother deserves the credit for my first exposure to elegant dressing. My father, a policeman, led the marching band of the Police Training School, which would play one Sunday per month. These were considered formal occasions, at which my mother, sister, two brothers and I stood on the platform alongside the Commandant. A talented seamstress, my mother created many dresses for herself and us girls for these events.
I hadn’t planned on being a designer. As a matter of fact, it happened quite by accident! I had just lost my job, and the church that I attended was having a New Year’s Eve event with a special gospel artist and the pastor asked that the members dress in gowns. As I was on a very limited budget and desperate, I asked one of my male friends to be my mannequin. I created a dress on him and wore it! My girlfriends all thought I’d bought the dress until in the ladies’ restroom I showed them the inside. It was horrible—but it was a beginning!
A designer needs to know what she wants to say. Creativity plays a very important role in my life.
It is a point of release to form something that’s in your mind and watch it come to life. It wrestles with you and pushes you to design a dress from fabrics that are not immediately familiar, but when finished, form a dress of distinction that garners compliments for the wearer. My designs are elegant yet eccentric. I have a signature look that has been developed over the years. The woman who is wearing Hope Wade Designs is a woman of confidence who knows she’ll be seen. She is a woman of substance who has just rewarded herself and she glows, because this piece has been designed with her in mind.
I look for inspiration from art, people watching, and sometimes other designers. How did they treat the fabric, how did the fabric curve on a woman’s body, how did art capture the color and essence of the character being painted or portrayed? Most of the time, I’ll see a fabric and I know what direction I’d like to go. However, sometimes I begin by sketching a line for a show; then those sketches will point me to the materials that best express the designs. FABRICS CAN LITERALLY SCREAM AT ME!
With some fabrics, just the feel or design printed on it can instantly tell me what design is to be sketched in my head. Some fabrics have a warmth, an embrace—subtle but calming. Some materials are so rich in quality that they actually soothe the soul. That said, not all fabrics have the same quality or lead me to the same result.
You can have a very dramatic material that only needs a soft silhouette, while you may have a very simple design that needs a vibrant color to make it stand out, so it’s all the result of what you want to say. I do go through phases with fabric; for example, burlap is a fabric that I have been working with for quite a few years, and I tend to weave it into some of my other lines, even the elegant couture pieces. Experience has shown me that it’s worthwhile to take a chance on a fabric that speaks to me, even if it’s not the “usual” material for a specific style. I would tell a young designer not to be afraid to explore all kinds of fabric. Inspiration is all around you!
Recently, I’ve begun incorporating African prints into my work. While my roots have been calling to me for a while, I wasn’t initially impressed by the African prints I had seen. My tastes and inspirations have evolved and matured along with me, however. My niece and some friends have traveled in Africa, and the prints they have brought back for me have just exploded an emotion in me. The depth and wealth of the African continent have created a new appreciation of my color within me, and has expanded and diversified my designs.
In my community, design is a vehicle for me to pay it forward by doing fashion shows for charity, helping young people, and being a mentor. In my immediate circle there is a sense of pride when I achieve awards or goals; my friends and collaborators feel a part of it as well because they have seen the creative process and known the hardship involved. It is also an opportunity to highlight the unique fabrics and traditional designs of Jamaica and the Caribbean and introduce them to an entirely new audience. Through such platforms as London Fashion Week and Caribbean Fashion Week, I’ve been able to showcase these traditions while locating them firmly in the present of women’s fashion.
My mind may be chaotic but the end result is pristine.
I see design as a journey with stops along the way. There is a passage of scripture that says, “A man’s gift will make room for him before great and mighty kings.” I believe that with constant hard work, my designs will grace the red carpets of the Academy Awards, Emmys, and Grammys. There may even be an Oscar for Costume Design in my future! Anything is possible!
I am a native of Jamaica, but have made my home in upstate New York for many years. Jamaica had been a British colony for nearly three hundred years, and became independent as I was growing up. The Jamaican lifestyle is a blend of Caribbean traditions and proper British values, including a very structured educational system that includes uniforms for all schoolchildren. As such, a Jamaican woman takes pride in her appearance and her uniqueness.
My mother deserves the credit for my first exposure to elegant dressing. My father, a policeman, led the marching band of the Police Training School, which would play one Sunday per month. These were considered formal occasions, at which my mother, sister, two brothers and I stood on the platform alongside the Commandant. A talented seamstress, my mother created many dresses for herself and us girls for these events.
I hadn’t planned on being a designer. As a matter of fact, it happened quite by accident! I had just lost my job, and the church that I attended was having a New Year’s Eve event with a special gospel artist and the pastor asked that the members dress in gowns. As I was on a very limited budget and desperate, I asked one of my male friends to be my mannequin. I created a dress on him and wore it! My girlfriends all thought I’d bought the dress until in the ladies’ restroom I showed them the inside. It was horrible—but it was a beginning!
A designer needs to know what she wants to say. Creativity plays a very important role in my life.
It is a point of release to form something that’s in your mind and watch it come to life. It wrestles with you and pushes you to design a dress from fabrics that are not immediately familiar, but when finished, form a dress of distinction that garners compliments for the wearer. My designs are elegant yet eccentric. I have a signature look that has been developed over the years. The woman who is wearing Hope Wade Designs is a woman of confidence who knows she’ll be seen. She is a woman of substance who has just rewarded herself and she glows, because this piece has been designed with her in mind.
I look for inspiration from art, people watching, and sometimes other designers. How did they treat the fabric, how did the fabric curve on a woman’s body, how did art capture the color and essence of the character being painted or portrayed? Most of the time, I’ll see a fabric and I know what direction I’d like to go. However, sometimes I begin by sketching a line for a show; then those sketches will point me to the materials that best express the designs. FABRICS CAN LITERALLY SCREAM AT ME!
With some fabrics, just the feel or design printed on it can instantly tell me what design is to be sketched in my head. Some fabrics have a warmth, an embrace—subtle but calming. Some materials are so rich in quality that they actually soothe the soul. That said, not all fabrics have the same quality or lead me to the same result.
You can have a very dramatic material that only needs a soft silhouette, while you may have a very simple design that needs a vibrant color to make it stand out, so it’s all the result of what you want to say. I do go through phases with fabric; for example, burlap is a fabric that I have been working with for quite a few years, and I tend to weave it into some of my other lines, even the elegant couture pieces. Experience has shown me that it’s worthwhile to take a chance on a fabric that speaks to me, even if it’s not the “usual” material for a specific style. I would tell a young designer not to be afraid to explore all kinds of fabric. Inspiration is all around you!
Recently, I’ve begun incorporating African prints into my work. While my roots have been calling to me for a while, I wasn’t initially impressed by the African prints I had seen. My tastes and inspirations have evolved and matured along with me, however. My niece and some friends have traveled in Africa, and the prints they have brought back for me have just exploded an emotion in me. The depth and wealth of the African continent have created a new appreciation of my color within me, and has expanded and diversified my designs.
In my community, design is a vehicle for me to pay it forward by doing fashion shows for charity, helping young people, and being a mentor. In my immediate circle there is a sense of pride when I achieve awards or goals; my friends and collaborators feel a part of it as well because they have seen the creative process and known the hardship involved. It is also an opportunity to highlight the unique fabrics and traditional designs of Jamaica and the Caribbean and introduce them to an entirely new audience. Through such platforms as London Fashion Week and Caribbean Fashion Week, I’ve been able to showcase these traditions while locating them firmly in the present of women’s fashion.
My mind may be chaotic but the end result is pristine.
I see design as a journey with stops along the way. There is a passage of scripture that says, “A man’s gift will make room for him before great and mighty kings.” I believe that with constant hard work, my designs will grace the red carpets of the Academy Awards, Emmys, and Grammys. There may even be an Oscar for Costume Design in my future! Anything is possible!
