Kenneth Barlis_ A Craftsman Of His Trade

Posted on April 21, 2013 by Natz The Rebel

They always say never judge a book by its cover and this saying absolutely applies to the talented Kenneth Barlis with his baby-face features and shy manner. Born in Pagadian City in the Philippines, Kenneth later moved to San Diego at the age of 16 with his family. Always thought to follow in his father footsteps, Kenneth career changed from medicine to fashion when he sold his first designed wedding dress. Kenneth debuted the Kenneth Barlis Collection in 2010 It wasn’t long before he was reaping success when he received the Scholar Student Award at the Projects Ethos fashion show in 2011 and later in 2012, he received top honors at Fashion Week San Diego and headlined at Barbados Fashion Week.

Due to his continues hard work and dedication to his art, Kenneth’s designs have been featured in Vogue Italia online, Pacific San Diego Magazine, Fiori Magazine, Stylo Esmas and White Weddings Magazine to name a few of the many. His Designs have also been worn by celebrities such as Booboo Stewart of the Twilight Saga, Crystal Reed of MTV’s Teen Wolf, Mary Murphy of So You Think You Can Dance and Kendra Wilkinson of The Girls Next Door and Kendra On Top, among others.

Kenneth designs for the woman who enjoys an elegant and luxurious lifestyle in mind and has been making his mark on the fashion scene with his use of unorthodox textiles. His sculptured, one of a kind designs are every inch of the words exquisite, elegant and luxurious, so to just say that his work is excellent would be a mere understatement. Kenneth shows a great understanding of the feminine silhouette and it is obvious he has an eye for detail creating both regal and very sophisticated designs. He has truly proven himself to be a great craftsman of his trade and an excellent manipulator of textiles with baroque layering technique.

The Kenneth Barlis brand continues to makes its presence felt as Kenneth will be hitting runways in Toronto, Paris and Manila this April. Later on in the year fashion lovers will be thrilled by the first Annual Kenneth Barlis Fashion Show. It will be held on August 30th in sunny San Diego, California at the Port Pavilion Pier hosted by the talented and beautiful Ashley Hinshaw from The Hunger Games. This fashion show will exhibit the splendid designs of the Kenneth Barlis Spring/Summer 2014 collection as well as feature other designers such as Camille Wood, Alana Crain and Shari Ellis, Allen Huang and Evelyne Aguilar. It will be an event filled with plenty of flair and is not to be missed as Kenneth has very high expectations with plans to showcase the booming fashion culture of San Diego and set it as another major fashion hub within the USA. Tickets for this show are available at eventbrite.com, so the excitement builds in anticipation for this highly esteemed show and it really gives us another reason to look forward to summer.

Website:http://new.kennethbarlis.com/

Facebook Fan Page: www.facebook.com/kennethbarliscollection

Barbados Fashion Week 2012: 1st Night

Posted on November 22, 2012 by Natz The Rebel

“If you’re proud to be a Bajan

Put all your flags up, put all your flags up

And if you represent the nation

Let me see rags up, let me see rags up

we talking about the blue, yellow, blue,yellow blue……..”

Chorus of Colours by Natalie Burke ft Shontelle

With the completion of each year’s fashion week, Barbados has claimed its spot on the Caribbean map of fashion and is now making a mark internationally as it has been officially noted on the Global Fashion Week calendar. The fashion industry here is finally evolving, bringing to mind a phrase from my years in Venezuela “Hasta La Revolucion” meaning “Until the Revolution”. The fashion revolution was definitely taking place on 26th of October, the first night of BB Fashion Week 2012 themed ‘Glam Night,’. The Spring/Summer 2013 collections were featured by five designers representing the USA, Bahamas and Barbados, each with their own unique style.

The first designer to open the night was Kenneth Barlis from the Philippines now based in the USA. Kenneth made a grand entrance bringing a ‘romantic feeling’ to the runway with his one of the kind couture gowns and cocktail dresses. He showed a full understanding of how to design for a woman’s body with structured silhouettes and paid close attention to the details. Kenneth vibrant collection also incorporated the use of natural materials into his looks like rooster feathers and sea shells. Also he was accompanied by international model Candice Edwin.

The next designer of the night was Courtney McIntosh from the Bahamas and it was hard to ignore her sultry swimwear collection. The collection had the perfect balance between daring and demure using the cut-out and animal print trends. These stunning designs including bikinis to crochet pieces adding a refreshing element to the show.

Designer Joan White was the first Barbadian designer of the night with her outstanding and extremely unique creations. Joan’s collection was colorful, showing skill and dedication with dresses accentuated with plenty of details including hand paintings on some of the designs.

Fellow Barbadian designer Brandi Estwick presented a stunning collection that was fresh. Even though it was a small collection, it still made an impressionable impact with the attendees as Brandi presented an edgy black and white collection.

The final designer and one of the most anticipated of the first night was the promising Barbadian Kesia Eswick, who showed great development, ability and style. Kesia who benefited from the Adopt-A-Designer program with Romero Bryan and Oliver Tolentino, created magic on the runway as she displayed not one but two collections. She successfully married the soft feminine look and the hard edgy look together. For her first collection “Kiss The Girl’, was full of prints with hearts, lips and skeleton hands widely used on her designs, with a tasteful touch of leather throughout the collection. Kesia’s second collection ‘Lilith’ was more elegant with simple chic designs that were very avant-garde.

The first night started off with a bang and at the end of the night they were many glamorous designs exhibited making it in deed a Glam Night. This night and the remaining night were produced by Unique Production Worldwide Ltd.

Photo Credit:Cullen Perrotte

Related Articles:

Barbados Fashion Week: The Launch

Barbados Fashion Week 2012: 2nd Night

Barbados Fashion Week: 3rd Night

Barbados Fashion Week: The Launch

Posted on October 30, 2012 by Natz The Rebel

During the recent fashion month held between September and October, I was totally unraveled and left to be hung by a thread as the collections that I liked from the four major fashion capitals gave me such had a mental rush. Just as I had regained my composure, the unraveling was beginning to happen again as the time for my beloved country Barbados, to host its very own fashion week was here. With a slogan of ‘Fierce, Fabulous & Furious’, Barbados Fashion Week, produced by Unique Productions Worldwide Ltd, officially launched on October 25th at the Kensington Oval Warehouse and this year’s premier fashion event had a line-up consisting of local, regional and international designers. The opening ceremony was a gala and cocktail party event which was attended by designers, models, fashionistas, socialites, local media and even Club Fashion, an international TV show. So I had a night spent mingling, talking fashion and rubbing shoulders with all the attendees. The evening then conclude with a climax as the after-party was held at infamous ‘PRIVA‘ an elite nightclub on the west coast of Barbados.