PROJECTS
This page showcases my ongoing research, creative projects and archival work exploring Jamaican fashion, textiles and cultural heritage. Here, you'll find insights into past and current projects, including my collection of Caribbean garments and photographs, exhibitions and collaborations. Each project reflects my commitment to uncovering overlooked histories, amplifying Caribbean voices in global fashion narratives and reimagining fashion history through rigorous research, storytelling and design.
The Caribbean Fashion Archive
This collection brings together garments designed and made in the Caribbean, assembled throughout my PhD research to address the scarcity of archival materials on Jamaican and Caribbean fashion history. Each piece reflects the region’s craftsmanship, creativity, and evolving identity, offering insights into how clothing has shaped and been shaped by colonial histories, independence movements, and local industry.
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The collection serves as both a research archive and a creative resource. By documenting and contextualising these garments, this project seeks to challenge the historical neglect of Caribbean fashion, foreground its significance, and contribute to a richer understanding of global fashion narratives.
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Dad's Jamaica, circa 1950-1954
During my PhD research, I recovered a collection of photographs that were taken of or by my father before he left his beloved island of Jamaica for England in 1954. These images, captured in moments of quiet joy, resilience, and daily life, and are fragments of a world he never truly left behind.
Like many of the Windrush migrants who arrived in the UK after 1948, he carried with him dreams of returning home. But life had other plans. He met my mother, raised children and grandchildren, and, before he knew it, the years had bound him to Britain. Returning to Jamaica, became a long distant memory, a place he only visited for brief holidays.
Photographs, whether hanging on the walls of our family home or arriving in envelopes from his sister, became his tether to the island and his past. Each image was a portal—familiar faces frozen in time, streets that changed in his absence, echoes of a life he had left behind but never let go of. These photographs were more than just memories; they were a silent conversation with the home he left behind.
Jamaica Fashion Guild Ltd: Designing Paradise.
I began collecting garments during my research, and my collection now comprises over 80 pieces designed and made in the Caribbean. This exhibition marks the first public display of selections from my personal archive, providing a rare opportunity to explore the work of this remarkable organisation and its lasting influence.
We Dah Yah (in collaboration with the DHS)
Wi Deh Yah was a series of talks I organised in collaboration with the Design History Society (DHS) and the Caribbean Fashion and Design Research Network (CFDRN). CFDRN was established with the aim of amplifying the voices and histories of the Caribbean, a region which remains under-represented in histories of design. The Caribbean is defined in its broadest sense to include the islands in the Caribbean Sea and/or those countries that share its coastline.
Indigenous Craft and Design Practices session explored colonisation, empire, and Indigenous legacies, questioning whether these histories erased a Caribbean aesthetic. The Visual Communication Design session examined Caribbean visual culture, highlighting issues of representation, power, and the Black aesthetic. The final session, Heritage, Diaspora and Identity, focused on fashion, textiles, and beauty, discussing history-telling, archiving, and the role of West Indian communities in decolonising fashion narratives.
The recorded talks can be found on the DHS YouTube page - click the image or copy and paste linke below: https://www.youtube.com/@designhistorysociety1561
Redressing History
I was honoured to take part in Redressing History, a collaborative podcast series created by researchers and staff at the University of Brighton. The series aims to promote dialogue on BIPOC dress and textile histories, bringing together academics, artists, and designers whose work highlights these often-overlooked narratives.Each episode is accompanied by a Visual Essay, offering further insights into the examples, sources, and ideas discussed. Both the podcasts and essays are available on the Centre for Design History Blog, Spotify, and YouTube.
As part of this project, I recorded several episodes, engaging in conversations with leading voices in fashion, design, and cultural research:🎙 Episode 4 – In conversation with Teleica Kirkland, fashion historian, educator, researcher, and Creative Director of the Costume Institute of the African Diaspora (CIAD).
🎙 Episode 5 – A discussion with artist and educator Miriam Hinds-Smith, exploring art, design, and textile histories.
🎙 Episode 6 – A conversation with designer and researcher Kadian Gosler (PhD Candidate, University of the Arts, London), examining the intersection of design and cultural identity.
🎙 Episode 7 – In discussion with Lorna Hamilton-Brown, an artist, independent researcher, educator, knitwear designer, performer, and video maker, on the role of textiles in storytelling and resistance.
This series is an opportunity to expand conversations around dress history, challenge dominant narratives, and centre the contributions of BIPOC creatives and researchers. Listen to the episodes and explore the Visual Essays via the Centre for Design History Blog, Spotify, and YouTube.