‘Risky’ design from Poshelle takes ‘Best Evening Wear’

When Lisa Cordice decided to go the unconventional route with the design of Royesha Telemaque’s winning gown for the Miss SVG 2023 pageant, she knew she was taking a risk.

“I took a chance and you know, people loved it, also the colour was definitely a colour that is not really popular on that stage as well…even that was a risk.”

But the risk paid off, and for the second consecutive year, a contestant wearing one of Cordice’s designs was awarded Best Evening Wear at the Miss SVG Pageant which took place at the Victoria Park last Saturday.

Cordice, whose brand is Poshelle, said a great deal of time went into the design of the winning gown, as some of its parts were hand crafted.

The challenge-seeking designer said that “there’s some parts of it that you’ve done before but there’s always going to be elements of it that are totally new and experimental and definitely that was it for Royesha’s dress”.

She explained that the dress was sculptured from the shoulder, extending down to the waist, using approximately 400 petals which were hand made, using lacing wire.

The dress was accessorized by a head piece which Cordice said was a last minute decision.

“The head piece was definitely different and it was a last minute decision too… it was definitely something different, I wanted it to be a reveal, but not necessarily the reveal that is usually done.”

Cordice said that usually, the contestants in the pageant will have a reveal where they remove a covering from their dress while on stage, but for this piece, she did something different.

“For the reveal we went for something a little more unconventional, when she came out she came out with the dress and a hat.”

The designer said working with Royesha was a wonderful experience, as she allowed Lisa to be creative with the dress, and the colour of the dress, lilac, happens to be on of Royesha’s favourite colour.

This year, as a part of the Community Service Project, each contestant had a colour theme; Royesha’s theme was the ‘Purple Economy’ which coincidentally blends with the colour of her evening wear.

Cordice said, “honestly I didn’t even know that until coming down to the end, I had no idea so that was a happy coincidence”.

In 2022, a Poshelle gown worn by first runner-up Shadyn McLean also took the Best Evening gown award.

Cordice says that lately, “the culture has shifted and I think that people are more open now to unconventional gowns at Miss SVG…people have acquired a taste for something a little different.”

This year, Poshelle did designs for three contestants in the Miss SVG pageant. She designed the Cultural and Evening Wear for Letiesha Barbour – Miss Grenadine House, Denecia Boatswain – Miss Metrocint General Insurance and this year’s 1st Runner-up, Royesha Telemaque – Miss Instransit Exports.

The fashion designer said that delivering a difference is her forte.

Poshelle, a name made by combining ‘posh’ and ‘elegant’ is all about doing something different. The 13-year-old business aims to cater for all women of various sizes and not just the what is classed as the ‘standard’.

As for the future, Cordice said she is currently working on an extension to the Poshelle brand that she hopes to roll out by end of this year and persons can expect to see more designs in the Miss SVG pageant.