SAINT International’s impeccable record of making waves in the global fashion industry has written its latest chapter. 

This time around, the Deiwght Peters-led modelling agency continues its first-class collaborations with the world’s biggest designers as SAINT stars Elecia Gordon and Ashawnie Stewart appear in a new capsule collection for celebrated Jamaican-American designer Edvin Thompson’s Theophilio brand partnership with Amazon Luxury Stores.

Shot in Negril in August, by noted photographer Philip Daniel Ducasse, Thompson’s new collection, titled ‘Homecoming’, is a love letter to his roots, featuring an array of rasta-print ruched dresses, mesh beaded mini dresses, crewnecks, Speedos and long striped shorts. 

Styled by Thompson and Antoine Gregory, the model pair of Stewart and Gordon were beautifully captured in scenic vignettes around the island’s resort town. The exclusive collection, now available on Amazon’s Luxury fashion online platform, also features re-editions from Theophilio’s previous collections.

“I love representing the place where I’m from,” Thompson, a Brooklyn resident, told Harper’s Bazaar in a recent interview.

“My culture and heritage are always embedded in everything I do, as it is a fundamental part of my identity. It was important to me to include Jamaica in the collection because the Amazon customer is different from the Theophilio customer, and I wanted to take the chance to bring these new customers into the [brand’s] universe. I believe the most honest thing I can do as a designer is to not only speak about where I am going, but where I am from.”

SURPRISE REVELATION

For SAINT beauty Gordon, a former Balenciaga runway and e-commerce star, she learnt only a week before the Negril shoot with the overseas-based creative team that she had been proposed and approved as the female face for Theophilio collection by her model boss.

“It was a real surprise as Mr Peters had not told me before,” the statuesque stunner from John Hall in St James told Our Today.

“But it turned out excellently as the team was welcoming and so much fun.”

Working on-set locally with a major international fashion brand was not unfamiliar territory for Gordon, who was lensed for Zara’s summer campaign, ‘Lost Garden’, two years ago in Portland.

As for Gordon’s SAINT compatriot, Stewart, the Theophilio project marked his international fashion debut.

“My experience on the shoot was more like an adventure as every moment was exhilarating for me,” he shared.

Hailing from the district of Darliston, Westmoreland, he was proud his parish was the project’s chosen backdrop.

“It was awesome being on home turf and having Westmoreland recognised for its beauty,” he said, adding that his favourite piece from the shoot was a cheetah-print pants and rasta-print shirt he modelled alongside Gordon.

“It reminded me of similar clothing my grandfather used to wear and being in it put me in a sentimental place.”

Seeing yet another high-profile fashion alliance materialise was music to the SAINT chief executive’s ear.

“This one is very special,” Peters told Our Today, “as the Theophilio team reached out directly and were keen on using Jamaican models for the new collection and were particularly interested in SAINT based on their research and our history.”

He added: “I had been tracking Edvin’s formidable career as a designer and was impressed with his growth. I was pleased and proud he made the decision to shoot here in his island home.”

Thompson, who relocated from Jamaica to the United States in 2002, is one of international fashion’s brightest designers and was bestowed the Emerging Designer of the Year trophy at last year’s Council of Fashion Designers of America awards ceremony in New York.