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Summary
Fashion week Trinidad & Tobago 2010 featuring over 50 designers, some from as far away as New York, was a sold out event this year. Thousands attended the evening shows, included the newly elected Prime minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar. For Dianne Hunt, one of the organizers, the popular turnout was welcomed. Once a British colony, Trinidad is just eleven kilometres from Venezuela. The island's population, which is just over a million, is a mix of African, East Indian, Chinese and European descent. Meiling Trinidad's most well known designer says that the fashion industry has had its ups and downs. In recent years the industry suffered from lack of international exposure and local support, but that seems to be changing. Meiling presented her Noir or Negro collection in the Fringe event: BE. She thinks fashion week is also about having fun and open other avenues to people who wouldn't seat through fashion shows. New York based but Trinidad born fashion designer Francis Hendy recognized said that the island's industry has to be more global if it is going to survive. Fashion week in Trinidad is the place where new local talents are discovered and gain confidence. Up and coming designer Anya Ayoung-Chee, Miss Trinidad and Tobago Universe 2008, showed for the first time at Fashion week 2009 her collection Pilar. She made a flamboyant come back this year with the new Pilar collection and also her lingerie line. For three years fashion week has been instrumental in generating public interest and unveiling new talents, the next step is to reopen local factories and revive the struggling fashion industry by training more technicians, produce locally and get people to buy local.
