Fashionable Christmas at Limegrove

“Great things are not done by impulse, but a series of small things brought together.” – Vincent Van Gogh.

For years, Barbadians and visitors have expected “great things” at Limegrove Lifestyle Centre during the holidays and this is due to a small group of dedicated and creative minds who decorate the mall every season.

On Monday, The Barbados Advocate visited the West Coast luxury shopping area and saw several beautifully decorated and detailed mannequins which featured fourteen festive dress trees. Stunning in their design and presentation, the creators of the project were Lady Altman and her daughter who finalised the theme in September. Each one of the dress trees was meticulously created by a talented team.

Assisting with the project was former Head of Operations for Limegrove Lifestyle Centre, Hadassah Carrington. She has been a part of the designing team for about five years but took a break for one year before rejoining the decorators.

“Time of the woman”
Carrington highlighted that it was just a coincidence that their theme of dress/fashion/female form comes during the time of the woman. She added that they wanted to do something feminine and pretty.

“We wanted to make use of flowers, the materials that we use, all of them, most are silk flowers,” said Carrington.

Additionally, the mannequins are made with a range of local leaves such as banana leaves, ferns, frangipani. Carrington explained that the process took about six weeks, with the last twelve days being quite busy as the team continued to assemble the various designs.

According to the former Head of Operations, each flower or leaf was attached individually and the work was initially prepared by two persons but became a team of five in the end stages of the projects. Other persons also contributed to the process as she noted that the Head of Maintenance Of Limegrove Lifestyle Centre, Cecil Clarke assisted with the cutting and forming of the frame for the mannequins. The massive Christmas tree at the entrance of the Centre with mannequin frames as ornaments took the designers about two weeks to complete.

The exhibition of the dress trees,particularly those without a Christmas theme, are expected to remain on display beyond the holidays. Speaking about the creative for the dress trees, Carrington pointed out the importance of keeping it close to one’s roots.

“We wanted it to look very tropical, very Caribbean and at the same time, we wanted to tie in Christmas and shopping,” said Carrington.