CFSTYLE Designer Interview – Winner of Islands of the World 2009 NexGen Designer Winner – Darcel de Vlugt
1. Who is Darcel de Vlugt?
Darcel de Vlugt is a native of Trinidad and Tobago who, for a number of reasons, was raised in Israel, Syria, and Cyprus for the majority of her childhood. She is as much in touch with her Caribbean roots as she is with the ways and cultures of the Middle East and the Mediterranean and tries to find inspiration in her various life experiences to get the most out of them. She currently resides in London, where she studies at the pretigious London College of Fashion and graduated in 2008, but now works from her home where she makes custom semi-couture designs for runway, editorial, and individual clientele.
2. What inspired you to get into fashion?
I was firmly involved in modern and contemporary dance for over fifteen years and was hoping to follow a career path in dance, but a back injury in volleyball made it difficult to continue on a professional level and so I turned to my love of art and realised that I was good at sewing and handling fabrics, so it developed into something I really wanted to study further. Because of my skin condition Vitiligo, I was always also figuring out stylish ways to cover up my face or wear clothes that would distract from my skin, so style was always quite important to me.
3. Describe your journey into fashion?
I did an eight-month private sewing weekend course to learn the basics of pattern-making during my final year of high school before heading to the London College of Fashion where I embarked on the Foundation Course for Art and Design. I was offered an early intake interview to get into the BA course and following that, was given a position on the BA(Hons) Fashion Design Technology for Womenswear. During my third year I completed my graduate collection and also made my own magazine as part of a styling and image-making project, where I used my other skills such as airbrushing and styling and coming up with concepts for various photoshoots. Just before graduation, my cousin in the Caribbean told me about Islands Fashion Week and suggested I apply but I was reluctant as I had minimal experience making a collection, but I did apply just to see if I would be accepted and then in August 2008 got news that I was accepted to show my first runway collection in Nassau. The rest is history!
