Mark Eastman and Lisa See Tai, graduates of UTT’s Bachelor of Fine Arts in Fashion Design programme

Two (2) graduates of UTT's Caribbean Academy of Fashion and Design (CAFD) will showcase their work at the Trinidad and Tobago Installation of the International Fashion Showcase 2013, which is to be held under the auspices of the Trinidad and Tobago High Commission in London. Lisa See Tai and Mark Eastman, both 2012 graduates of UTT's Bachelor of Fine Arts in Fashion Design programme, will join fellow Caribbean-born designer, Darcel de Vlugt, to showcase their designs during the preeminent London Fashion Week which takes place from February 15-19, 2013.

Both Lisa and Mark credit their familial ties and personal sense of style for their early introduction into fashion, but it was their love of art as teenagers which gave them their true artistic expression. Having appeared as a young child in a David Rudder music video, Lisa learnt from an early age the nuances connected to set design and fashion while Mark recalls that his love of fashion grew when he looked at the mass appeal of fashion on such international platforms as the televised, "Style with Elsa Klensch".

Both Lisa and Mark credit local influences such Richard Young, Radical Designs and Meiling for having brought fashion to the consciousness of the local public and, more so, for making fashion attainable. Meiling continues to work closely with the fashion students attached to UTT's Caribbean Academy of Fashion and Design.

All three (3) young designers are members of the Fashion Association of Trinidad and Tobago (FATT) and see the impact that this membership has on budding designers. Their ability to compete on a global scale with designers throughout the United States and Europe is an indication of the quality work being done at CAFD and at FATT by extension. According to Lisa, who now lectures in UTT's Caribbean Academy of Fashion and Design, "Fashion students should work hard and play hard" since fashion is about something which you must be passionate.