island fashion

I did not go out looking for a white bag, or any bags at all. In fact only at home, after downloading the pictures did I find the curious coincidence:)

the white shopping bag of a young man, not likely tourist, on a street of Philipsburg, Sint Maarten

the lunch bag (?) of a woman on Frontstreet in Philipsburg, Sint Maarten

the white bag of teenage boys crossing Bay Street in Nassau, Bahamas

A lady I got a paparazzi shot of in front of the Parliament Building

and a man who insisted I take his photo in front of the Starbucks

Inspired by fabulous fashion blogs I’ve come across lately, many of them Polish,(yey!) I am surprised to announce I’m starting a fashion blog on fashion in the Antilles, where I currently live. Surprised, because I never expected to. The angle will be different, it will focus on a mix of tourists, locals, and residents. Each of these categories dresses according to their own rules, each tries to adapt to the clothing-non-friendly climate their own way. I suppose what will distinguish my blog from the other street fashion blogs which inspired me, is that it will not show latest trends. Although latest trends can also be spotted here, they will not be the (main) focus of the blog. I will just show things as they are. I know I will have some people dressed not worse than the ones photographed by the sartorialist – although my experience here tells me this will not be frequent. Even the people he catches on the streets of NY, Paris or Milan adapt their wardrobe when on holiday; some for sure maintain their envious style, nevertheless, it is no longer big city fashion, but adapted to local circumstances. Antillean local circumstances have quite an impact. So, let’s say this an objective anthropological study of fashion of the people who live here, come here or come from here, no aspiration to capture just the applaudable looks.

The reason the blog is called island fashion, while I refer to Antillean fashion in the introduction, is that  I believe there just small differences between the different island’s fashions (have seen so far 3 and plan to present material of all the islands I visit). So whether it will be Puerto Rico, Cuba, St. Barth’s or Sint Marteen, even if they differ, my experience and intuition tell me there will be much in common, a uniqueness which unites the islands and separates them from, let’s call it, continental fashion; in essence, it will always be island fashion. Additionally I hope to cover the Bahamas as well, which although in the area, do not form the Antilles – so maybe I should call it West Indies Fashion…

This is the natural environment of the people I plan to portray here: