Artisan Neisha La Touche

Designers Keeanna Ible and Shavaniece Lake of Iridescent Fashion from St Kitts and Nevis exchanged with artisan Neisha La Touche from Grenada for The Commonwealth Fashion Exchange - an initiative for established and emerging fashion talent from across the Commonwealth’s 53 countries to showcase the power and potential of artisan fashion skills to deliver new networks, trade links and highlight sustainability.

This Fashion Exchange gown was a meeting of minds and cultures. Keeanna, Shavaniece and Neisha explored their overlapping cultures to create “Sugar and Spice”, relating to a two day carnival in each country that showcases the large troupe costumes for the festivals of Sugar Mas and Spice Mas. The gown is an explosion of colour – pink, red, orange and yellow, with gold highlights, represented by bold bursts of Swarovski upcycled crystals across the bodice and finished with a plume of feathers.

The look was displayed at Buckingham Palace and the Australian High Commission, London. Both exhibitions were curated by VOGUE's Editor-at-Large, Hamish Bowles.

The project was launched by Commonwealth Secretary General the Rt Hon Patricia Scotland and Livia Firth, founder of sustainability consultancy Eco-Age and supported by Swarovski, The Woolmark Company and MATCHESFASHION.COM.