Brooklyn-based designer Roger Gary to show at Guyana’s 2026 Origins Fashion Festival
The festival runs from July 3 to 5 at the Railway Courtyard in Georgetown under the patronage of tourism minister Susan Rodrigues.
GEORGETOWN, Guyana. The 2026 Origins Fashion Festival will take place from July 3 to 5 at the Railway Courtyard in Georgetown, under the patronage of Susan Rodrigues, minister of tourism, industry and commerce.
The event, featuring designers from the Caribbean and North America, will include evening fashion showcases, a fashion market, pop-up shops, a craft and jewellery village, a food court, creative panels and industry talks, and designer runway nights.
Brooklyn-based designer Roger Gary will bring his Spring/Summer Resort collection to the catwalk. Mr Gary, known for his eveningwear and for dressing many Miss Guyana contestants, recently presented an AI runway show, and his collections have featured at New York’s Seventh on Sixth fashion week, Caribbean Fashion Week in Jamaica and Summer Sizzle in the British Virgin Islands.
Return to where it began
“Showing my collections in Guyana has always been important to me, I’m guessing because it’s where my dreams of becoming a designer all started,” he told Caribbean Life. He studied at the E. R. Burrowes School of Art under Dennis Williams.
Mr Gary began showing in Guyana in the 1990s after an invitation from Negla Brandis. His new collection is inspired by Holly Golightly, Audrey Hepburn’s character in Breakfast at Tiffany’s, who “embarks on a journey around the world, visiting a few of my favorite places and some on my bucket-list to visit.”
Building the orange economy
Festival and design director Keisha Edwards said in a Facebook video: “If Guyana is serious about building its orange economy, then we must be serious about building the people behind it.”
“Capacity building remains at the heart of creating a stronger, more sustainable fashion sector,” she said. A Designer Edge workshop was led by designer and educator Alicia Rose, who holds a Master of Arts in Carnival Studies and researched fashion in Trinidad Carnival costume design.
Ms Edwards, a Chevening Scholar and owner of Shasha Designs, said the workshops were made possible through the tourism ministry and the festival.
Origins secretariat director Lourdeth Ferguson, who is responsible for logistics, is working with Ms Rodrigues, Ms Edwards, model coach Keith Allicock and production director Andrea King. She is calling on members of the diaspora to “come home” and experience what Guyana has to offer.
