Fashion designers get rare chance to shine in capital of impoverished Haiti

11/14/2012 20:05 More than three dozen designers showed their latest creations tropic on a runway in Haiti Fashion Week, which ended on Sunday centered. The visitors came from places as close to the neighboring Dominican Republic and as far as Japan. Prada Bags On Sale "It was a great, great experience, Haitian artists all on the same track," said David Andrew, a designer who owns a clothing store in Petionville and began his 2013 collection of clothes for men and women of the station. He hopes that the event will become an "annual meeting". Organizers say this is the first time that a fashion show of this magnitude took place in the Caribbean country, which is still slow reconstruction of the 2010 earthquake, which destroyed thousands of buildings and displaced more than a million people. They also hope the event is another facet disaster-prone Haiti show, even though the country is struggling to recover from the hurricane and sandstorm last week that officials say killed up to 65 people. Haitian artists such as André resist hoping that international buyers have to buy parts of their collections presented at the conference, exhibition, workshops and stalls. It is particularly important that the buyer be aware of outside models, because the poverty in Haiti, it is difficult to get customers, said Andrew. "The clients I (Haiti) is very, very low, so I work a lot harder abroad," said Andre, an experienced designer has shown his collections in places like New York, Jamaica, Ecuador and the Dominican Republic. The fashion show was organized by the Center for Haitian support for the promotion of the business, network designers and the Haitian Ministry of Culture. Haitian singer Emeline Michel and Jacques Germain lent their voices for the show for the first time visitor, another aspect of Haitian culture. Dominican designer Socrates McKinney said that Haiti has "a strong culture and, in a sense, must be reflected in fashion." Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.