Krystal’s desire to design (POSITIVE YOUTH)

Krystal Cobham modelling one of her dresses. (Sharon Harding)

By Natasha Beckles | Sun, July 08, 2012 - 12:02 AM

Get familiar with the clothing line Kadburry Designs and the name Krystal Cobham.

This 25-year-old is one of a growing number of young, local fashion designers who are keen on gaining international exposure for their work.

Although she did not initially set out to become a designer, Krystal is beginning to carve a niche for herself with both swimwear and elegantly casual apparel.

She told the SUNDAY SUN her first attempt at designing came about two years ago when she needed a Halloween costume.

“I wanted to go as Red Riding Hood. I was talking to a friend and he was telling me how to do the cape because that was the only thing I really needed.

“I went home and I got it done. It didn’t come out perfect but I was pretty pleased with it,” she recalled.

Her next venture into designing was not far away.

“I think it was an Old Year’s Night my best friend and I were going out and she got an outfit made [by a dressmaker]. I’d never got anything made so I thought why not. I got the same material as she did and I got something made.

When I came home and looked at it, I thought this was something I could do,” she said, noting that the quality of the clothing was not as high as she expected.

“From there I started [making clothes] for my best friend. I actually used to do more stuff for her than for myself but then I started making for myself,” the Louis Lynch Secondary School alumna said.

Krystal is a final year accounting student at the University of the West Indies (UWI) Cave Hill campus but she admitted that her passion for this subject is not what it was when she started her degree.

“My mind is now more on fashion. I want to go to the [Samuel Jackman Prescod] Polytechnic to do fashion design.”

This may seem like an odd combination of interests but Krystal noted that in secondary school, art and mathematics were her two strongest subjects.

However, fuelled partially by a childhood desire to work in a bank, the young woman “dropped” art and focused on maths.

At the Barbados Community College she studied mathematics and environmental science.

Although she did not take art seriously when she was younger, Krystal said she was always creative – a trait she attributes to her late mother.

“She passed away about a year and a half ago but she was always doing stuff with her hands,” Krystal said.

Asked how she would describe her work, she said: “Classy, a bit on the punkish side because I like a lot of leather and black and chains . . . but still fun and playful.”

And she envisages the woman who wears her clothing as “someone who wants to stand out”.

Krystal will soon be offering swimwear for sale and she has also started to design casual apparel, including leggings and skirts which she will be marketing on Facebook.

She also wants to participate in runway shows.

“At UWI there’s a fashion show around carnival time so I’m going to try and see if I can get into that.

And about the name Kadburry Designs, Krystal’s explanation is just as playful as her fashion sense.

“The K is from my name and my favourite junk food is Cadbury chocolate,” she quipped.