Dominicans home and abroad are being encouraged to make Creole fashion a part of their lifestyle by participating in the ‘IInDat’ initiative.
The initiative which was introduced by Ian ‘Sugar George’ Edwards of Anguilla encourages Dominicans to wear anything that depicts Creole culture every last Friday in every month beginning this year and beyond.
It is seen as a lifestyle for every individual, business, and related entities to embrace with pride.
“The initiative is supposed to be a movement of pride and a calendar event…celebrating our Creole culture through fashion,” Marketing Consultant of ‘IInDat’ Vanessa Winston St. Agathe told Dominica News Online (DNO) during an interview. “And once people get the whole fashion going you will find the whole tone is set.”
She continued, “People will start pushing the Creole foods on those Fridays, the music and hopefully influencers, as well as brand ambassadors, media and companies, buy into it. That is the plan.”
Furthermore, she pointed out that this great idea was ‘fashioned’ from a sense of pride in Dominica’s colourful and rich cultural heritage.
“We were inspired to recognize our evolution and need to celebrate this, OUR creole fashion, not just once a year in October, but every single day if possible, but certainly every month,” St Agathe stated. “And in the true spirit of our culture, fashion, food, music and dance all go hand in hand.”
She believes the initiative will foster opportunities for small businesses to create new areas for growth and support in relevant fields.
“It is a lifestyle for every individual, business, and related entity to embrace because it simply says, I am a Proud Dominican. I wear it with pride,” St Agathe indicated.
She mentioned further that the group is relying on social media platforms to drive engagement and encouragement.
St Agathe was proud to note that DDA is already on board.
“We are hoping that DDA, when they put it on their calendar of events, will help in part to do the promotion and encouragement for that type of activity,” she said.
Why is this INITIATIVE important? The initiative’s focus is:
- Making Creole Day-to-Day fashion a symbol of National Pride (monthly events to start)
- Making Creole Fashion part of our lifestyle, here and abroad (daily, weekly, monthly)
- Driving the evolution of our honoured traditions and heritage in Creole Fashion, and opening and tapping into the creative minds of our people, through fashion
- Making Dominica Creole Fashion Fridays a historic event
- Creating new business opportunities surrounding the event and themes in all businesses
It is a solution for:
- Recognition of the gap in focus that exists between cultural events, throughout the event calendar year and the lack of platforms to consistently and continuously engage our nationals in national pride building through Creole Fashion and wear. The IInDat is a beneficial solution to handle that problem.
In terms of fashion, I’ve never been able to understand why madras fabric, with its tartan design, continues to hold such sway in Dominica’s culture.
It is an imperial remnant that has its roots in Scotland and India.
If Dominicans had an ounce of pride left in them they would have gotten rid of this CM. Never mind Creole culture and fashion. Do all you believe your fore fathers would have tolerated this man for more than 4 years?!