It’s fitting then, that the Cayman-born designer’s offering should go by the title of The New World, drawing on the colonial myth of discovery – finding untapped soil in far-off lands and eradicating the histories of its inhabitants. “How do you build an identity when fragments of yourself have been told to you in ways that you have to decipher?,” he asked in the accompanying show notes. The show loosely follows the imagined story of a yacht crashing into a pirate ship, with Alleyne fashioning pirates, captains, tourists, and onlookers from recycled and deadstock fabrics. Alongside his signature cut and pinned t-shirts, came breezy asymmetrical skirts, draped tops held together by knots, and denim skirts wrapped around the hips like a beach towel. Languid dresses are fastened with staples, shirts are tied-together or otherwise safety-pinned, while repurposed suit jackets become vests, and a finale gown is constructed entirely from dress jersey strips and flailing strings.
Photography Christina Fragkou
