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CEH Fashion Spotlights Kerby Young’s ‘Island Boy’ Clothing Capsule

Introducing Kerby Young’s latest capsule collection called ‘Island Boy’ which has the Caribbean buzzing and curious to learn more about this serial entrepreneur, and the rise of his start-up Caribbean-inspired clothing business and ever-evolving Fashion empire right here in the Caribbean.

Kerby Young is a 36-year-old, Guyanese-born, Trinidad-based Creative Director and Fashion Designer of Kerby Young Designs (KYD). As a self-taught fashion designer with a career in fashion designing for over 16 years, Caribbean Entertainment Hub was intrigued to learn what exactly ignited his passion for fashion?

Well, according to Mr. Young, it all first began when he designed an elegant evening gown for a Miss-talented Teen pageant. Since then, his Fashion empire has now evolved into him designing unisex clothing, bags, accessories, and masks, all of which are inspired by the Caribbean aesthetic. He believes that the Caribbean aesthetic manages to balance the beauty of clothing and the sustainability of life and that is mainly why he decided to center his company’s brand around the Caribbean.

Throughout the years, he was able to gain popularity in countries such as Barbados, Jamaica, St. Lucia, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, and some parts of the USA and Canada. Despite the challenges that covid restrictions posed, he was able to release his brand-new collection which targets the men of KYD.

So who exactly is an ‘Island Boy’ and what exactly was the inspiration behind it?

According to Mr. Young, he believes that being “an island boy” means, to be someone who truly appreciates and revels in the Caribbean’s flora and fauna and all that it brings. His inspiration for this collection was derived from the newly popular term ‘hot boy summer’. Every piece from this capsule aims to radiate the same vibrant energy and beauty of the Caribbean through the fabrics and colors chosen. When constructing these designs, his main mission was to ensure that anyone who wears any of these pieces feels empowered, motivated, driven…essentially the best version of themselves.

Not allowing the covid-19 pandemic to constrict his creativity, he decided to release his new clothing capsule ‘Island Boy’. The inspiration behind the collection was actually inspired by the social media video platform TikTok. Sharing that he often heard people constantly talking about ‘hot girl summer’.

‘What happen to ‘hot boy summer’? I realized that was not a thing. So I thought, let me see if I could do something for the guys.’

Young said most of his designs are for the ladies, and they were more into fashion. So he titled his collection for the guys ‘Island Boy’. The collection color palette consists of sea blues, green, red, and yellow, with each piece given a Caribbean-themed name such as ‘Caribbean Sea’and ‘Caribbean Breeze’ just to name a few. You can enjoy some of the designs from his ‘Island Boy’ capsule collection below.

So far the response from his collection has been positive. With one of his shirts designs being featured on Soca artiste Turner’s new music video ‘Summertime’. Young even added that he will be adding hoodies and track pants as well as more ‘Island Boy’ merchandise soon as well as a new collection on the way with the ladies in mind that he hopes to release for the Christmas season.

If you’re interested in learning more about Kerby Young’s ‘Island Boy’ Capsule collection, you can visit kerbyyoung.com or follow Kerby Young Designs on Instagram and Facebook.

Hashtags:#KerbyYoung #KerbyYoungDesigns #IslandBoy #Capsulecollection #Caribbeanfashion #Caribbeandesigner #TrinidadandTobago #Guyana #KYDMagazine #ShotsPhotographytt

Kerby Young: Designer In Demand

Guyanese born, Trinidad-based Fashion and Jewelry Designer Kerby Young is becoming a creative force to be reckoned with. With no formal training in designing, apart from a few short courses in garment construction, this self-taught designer began his fashion journey at the age of 18 years after moving to Trinidad to create a better life for himself.

Jeniro’s Jewelry Collection‘Jeniro’s Jewelry Collection’

 

When asked why he didn’t pursue fashion designing in school, he said that his mother didn’t think it was something that he should do. Instead he pursued studies in Civil Engineering, but his passion for fashion never died.

Now with over 15 years in the fashion industry, he has not only built a Fashion empire, but has also become an established professional Make-up artist and Photographer amongst many other caps that he wears proudly.

Bonita Makeup ‘Bonita Makeup’ / Photographer: Kerby Young

His well-known Caribbean inspired, male and female designs are rich in culture and maintains its comfy aesthetics. His signature bright, vibrant colours, chic and fashion forward designs have been showcased in countries such as Barbados, Guyana, Grenada, Jamaica and Trinidad & Tobago.

Resort wear collectionResort wear collection 2017

When asked who some of his fashion influences are, he said that  he is inspired by the work ethic of designers who have built huge empires such as Ralph Lauren, Alexander McQueen, Tommy Hilfiger and brands like Reebok and Adidas.

La Rhona collectionLa Rhona collection

One of his goals is to style celebrities like Beyoncé, Rihanna, and Cardi B in the future. He loves the way that they set trends, make the styles their own and express their creativity boldly regardless of the public’s opinion.

Wendy Fitzwilliam and Kerby YoungWendy Fitzwilliam ‘Miss Universe 1998’ and Kerby Young

This Caribbean Renaissance man continues to prove that being multi-faceted is one of the keys to establishing a successful brand. Outside of building his fashion empire, Kerby also runs a thriving cake decorating business ‘Jay’s Buttercup’.

Jay’s Buttercup Cake DecoratingJay’s Buttercup Cake Decorating services

As his brand continues to evolve, he successfully launched his KYD Magazine in 2017 which has quickly evolved into a local fashion hub for all the latest updates in everything fashion related regionally. You can check out the latest issue each month at www.kydmagazine.com.

KYD Magazine January 2019 issue

We at the Caribbean Entertainment Hub will be keeping you updated with all of your Caribbean Fashion pioneers so stay tuned, who knows your favorite Caribbean Creatives may be featured next.

 

Related Articles:

 

Sources includes: www.kydmagazine.com, Kerby Young Designs Social Media and interview.

Hashtags:

#Caribbeanfashion #Caribbeandesigner #TrinidadandTobago #Guyana

#Makeupartist #Fashion #Designer #Photographer #Kerbyyoungdesigns

 

Caribbean Fashion Trending Internationally

As Fashion continues to evolve globally, Caribbean fashion is now considered vogue within this evolution. No longer is Caribbean fashion boxed only into the expected tropical resort and swim wear designs but its refreshingly unique styles and couture pieces is now showcasing its versatility on runways internationally. Caribbean Fashion have now begun to take the forefront and in some cases even surpassed competitive expectations internationally.

It is no longer a surprise for Caribbean designers to be included and be represented on prestigious platforms. Earlier this year some of our leading designers were invited to the 1st ever Commonwealth Fashion Exchange that was hosted at Buckingham Palace, London, UK. Fashion designers, artisans and creatives from across the 52 nation Commonwealth exchanged skills, crafts and traditions creating a variety of unique looks and showcasing it to a global audience. Amongst the countries represented, here are a few of the distinguished designers that were featured from the Caribbean:

Kicking off the list is ‘Meiling’ from Trinidad and Tobago

 

Meiling’s design: Shirt Collar Caftan

 

Meiling Esau is one of the Caribbean’s well known and revered designers, with an exquisite reputation for paying attention to detail. Her career spans over several decades and has become one of those names synonymous with great quality.

 

  Shavaniece Lake and Keanna Ible posing with their design at Buckingham Palace

Up next, we head over to St. Kitts, where young designers Shavaniece Lake and Keanna Ible is showing that passion isn’t limited to age with their Iridescent Fashion collection. Not only were they among the selected few chosen to represent at the Commonwealth Fashion Exchange, but also had the privilege of styling Nevisian Hollywood stylist, Petula Skeete for the 2017 Oscars Red Carpet.

Arlene Martin of ‘Drenna Luna’ and Model

 

Representing for Jamaica on our list is Arlene Martin, Fashion designer and Managing director of ‘Drenna Luna’. Arlene is an established Caribbean Fashion Week favorite well-known for her traditional meets modern, easy to wear fashion forward styles and have been contributing to the Caribbean fashion industry for a great deal of years.

Theodore Elyett, Naomi Campbell and Edward Enninful at Buckingham Palace

And lastly on our list is Theodore Elyett of the Bahamas, who has taken the pageant and fashion world by storm. He is a multi-award winning fashion designer and the season three winner of the ‘Mission Catwalk’, which is an exciting reality series aimed at discovering and developing talent local fashion designers for the international market.

As Caribbean fashion continues to take strides, we at the Caribbean Entertainment Hub will be keeping you updated on everything fashion forward throughout the region. So stay tuned, who knows your favorite Caribbean Creatives may be featured next.

 

Featured Image: Fashion Design by Meiling

Cowled Collar Caftan

Fabric: Chiffon, Silk

Photography: Joshua Brizan

 

Sources: Loop TT, Meiling Inc., Meppublishers.com, Assembly.malala.org, Featured Designers Social Media

 

Hashtags:

#Caribbeanfashion #Caribbeandesigner

#Fashion #Designers #TrinidadandTobago

#Jamaica #Saintkitts #Bahamas #Caribbean