Friday, June 8 2012

Tomorrow (Saturday), eight full figured young women will grace the stage of the Mason Hall Secondary High School where the second “Miss Plus Size Fashion Show” will be held.

The show is a product of the Mason Hall Police Youth Club and their leader, Dexter Edwards. The theme for the show “Women of Class, Divas in Red.” According to one of the main organisers, Natasha Stewart, who was a contestant in last year’s show, the theme signifies that there are plus size women of elegance and class in society, and these women do not have to stay away from the colours white and red, which society believes make them appear bigger than they truly are. “Red in this show will help to bring out their class and confidence,” she added.

According to Edwards the show is a fund-raiser to help in an exchange programme with counterparts from Curacao. Roughly 30 persons from the Mason Hall Police Youth Club are planning to travel to Curacao in August and it is expected that the group coming from Curacao will be in Tobago sometime next year.

He believes that there is tremendous potential for this type of show as it encourages full figured women to have greater self-esteem and to show them that confidence in designs/fashion is as much about them as it is about slender, long legged women the world embraces as models. Edwards said, “The vision is to look towards a ‘Caribbean Plus Size Show’ with an eye on developing it into a tourism type event because soon the Cultural Complex will provide the venue for this and other types of related events.”

The “divas,” in order of appearance are, Carshelle Stoute, Sou Sou Lands, Mt Pleasant; Kimberly Cunningham, Runnemede/Moriah; Afeisha Eastman, Parlatuvier; Pettrena Thomas, Mason Hall; Nekiesha Paul, Bon Accord; Keishelle Walters, Scarborough; Karen Leacock, Canaan and Khanica Murray from Charlotteville.

The women will compete in the casual/beachwear segment and an evening wear segment, and each will be asked a question pertaining to women’s issues specific to Tobago. The contestants range in age from 18 to 30.

Stewart said enthusiasm was very high among all the delegates and each is hoping to win the top prize of $8,000 plus a trip for two to a Caribbean island.

In contrast to last year’s show for which organisers had to do casting call, Stewart said, “This year, a large number of girls were simply awaiting the announcement of the show to make themselves available and so the casting was very easy.” She said that the delegates are showing so much energy that one contestant sold over 100 tickets for the show.

All the contestants were involved in a number of promotional activities including cleaning of the Lambeau beach, appearances on Easter Monday and Tuesday at Mt Pleasant Sports and Buccoo Goat Races respectively. Some were even invited by designers to model clothes at the just concluded Tobago Fashion Week and the “Miss Plus Size Fashion Show” itself was official launched at the Gulf City Lowlands Mall on June 02.

The show will feature entertainment from Tobago’s cultural group, Youth Quake; pannist Kersh Ramsey, saxophonist Derick Seales and more. The main act will be Nadia Baston.

There are prizes also for Miss Photogenic, Miss Amity, Best Evening Gown, Best Casual Wear, Best Talent. Fans can vote for Miss Facebook, by logging on to and voting on Facebook by entering in the seach box miss plus size diva 2012.

The main sponsors of the show are the Division of Community Development and Culture, AVT General Services, Trinidad and Tobago Police Service Social and Welfare Association, and Dwayne Phillips Plumbing. The show starts at 7 pm.