Tabitha of Tabii Just Shows Jewel Colors, on Women of Color
- by Alden Wicker
- Feb 7, 2014
It’s no secret that New York Fashion Week is dominated by white models. Even though there are more minority babies being born in America than white babies, to see the fashion shows at Lincoln Center, you would guess they’re being streamed live from Scandinavia.
So it was with delight I saw that Tabitha St. Bernard, herself a gorgeous native of Trinidad, picked out BIPOC women to showcase her gorgeous Fall/Winter 14 collection. And the range of skin color proved that dresses can pop on any background, whether you’re a black, white, Asian, blond, red head, or brunette, or even have pink ombre hair. It seemed like the made a conscious decision to use models who look they have rich inner lives, opinions, and interesting hobbies. After all, it seems like that’s who she’s designing for.
Now, on to the clothing itself. St. Bernard doesn’t use sustainable fabrics, but she does use less fabric overall, by employing no-waste design to prevent her collection from sending fabric to the dump.
Her pieces ranged from the sassy, ladylike tailoring and draping in bright colors for cocktail parties, to more work-oriented wear, like pencil skirts and blouses. And then there was the super-fun fuzzy pink sweater with the open back that whispered, “I’m up to no good.”
My favorite was the draped, goddess-like dress (second picture below) with the deep v décolletage. It takes a certain type of woman to pull it off, however. Are you her?
