Closet Red – Light, Cameras, Curves!

Hosted biennially by Closet Red Plus-Size Boutique’s ‘Lights, Camera, Curves’ (LCC) is fast becoming a beacon of hope in the plus-size fashion community and is the only one of its kind in Trinidad and Tobago. The event goes beyond a typical fashion show and can safely be coined as an unforgettable night of love, positivity and entertainment. The inaugural event started at the Cipriani Labour College in 2013 with 197 attendees. Since then, the event has had to be moved to increased seating capacity venues such as, La Joya Auditorium, Daaga Hall UWI and now to the prestigious performance venue, the Queen’s Hall Auditorium. Over thirty (30) models will walk on Saturday 12th October 2019 in the best of Closet Red designs, with the show starting at 7:00 p.m. and ending at 10:00 p.m. Tickets are only TT$200.00. With tickets always in high demand, LCC Director and Managing Director of Closet Red Plus Size Boutique Sonja Pollonais encourages all women to try to attend the event at least once. For her, and many loyal fans of the show over the years, the event is an unforgettable night of female empowerment, self-love and acceptance.

“The core theme of this year’s event will surround the concept of transformation – becoming body positive through fashion showcasing five fashion runways, inspired by five colours, representing five moods of fashion,” explained Marketing Strategist Janine Charles-Farray at the media launch for the event on Thursday 26th September at the Lost Tribe mas camp. “Colour can be a powerful motivator. There is always a mood and a meaning associated with every personal fashion choice,” she explained. The team behind the 2019 edition and 5th anniversary of the event has selected 5 colours which will be the visual theme for the five runways to grace the Queen’s Hall stage – red, blue, yellow, purple and black. Each colour has been highlighted with a series of single-word meanings, which stir a specific mood. For example; the colour red invokes a meaning of energy, excitement, strength and warmth.

As an explanation of how an inner mood can affect outward fashion choices, the official Closet Red statement from the event media materials reads as follows: “At Closet Red, we believe in the importance of first feeling good about oneself and then reflecting that inner joy into looking good. In this way, once you’ve got the right inner mood, it radiates outward as confidence in the clothing choices you make when presenting yourself to the world. It fortifies you like armor against negativity from society and communicates inner beauty and strength, without saying a word. With the right mood, one will always be fashionable.”

Only a few days remain until Lights Cameras Curves is unveiled at Queen’s Hall, however, the journey began almost a month ago with the organizing team under Pollonais and the nation-wide Closet Red casting call for plus size models. Describing her philosophy as one dedicated to “open casting”, Pollonais explained her rationale behind casting “ordinary” women of Trinidad and Tobago as her runway models, as opposed to professional models from Trinidad and the wider Caribbean. “I want as much diversity and variety as possible on the runway – all sizes, all heights, all ages, all ethnic backgrounds – we must be well represented as a complete and representative cross-section of Trinbago,” she explained. “I want my audience to see themselves on stage, real women doing this runway to show the audience that they too can be fierce and fabulous. I want every person who comes to the show to have that moment of realization that they too have the power to be bold and be confident in themselves – if these models can do it, so can I.”

The Closet Red formula for getting models ‘stage-ready’ for LCC involves the casting call, a casting party – where the candidates walk before a live audience, and a Plus-size Model Development programme over four weeks where the concepts of self-esteem and confidence are the pillars of the training sessions. The models also learn about modelling and runway etiquette from the team of experienced trainers working under Closet Red. “Lights, Camera, Curves from start to finish fosters an atmosphere of joy and love,” continued Pollonais.  “This atmosphere plants the seeds of positivity, which we know will make an influential difference in the lives of our models and our audience.””At the end of this training session, the transformation will be complete – confident, self-assured, body-positive women looking and feeling good,” she concluded.

Special thanks to our treasured sponsors: TRESemmé by Unilever, Pat and Max Ltd and Signature Talent by Steele. For more information, visit www.mzzred.com or www.Facebook.com/ClosetRed. Follow on Instagram: @closetred or @lights_cameras_curves.