There’s a new one-stop shop in Kingstown where women can now buy ready-made outfits or have them custom-made by young talented designer Kimon Baptiste.

Kimon is now operating her own shop on the first floor of the Marcole Plaza.  At the present, the store caters only for females. She specializes in bringing to life the styles women dream of by offering those rare in-style fabrics such as jersey cotton, cotton lycra and stretch satin. And there are also accessories – necklaces, earrings and clutch purses.

“Some people come and they have an idea of what they want, like a dress or a suit, and I provide the fabric here,” says Kimon. “Hopefully sometime in the near future the selection of fabrics would be wider, but for now what I’m trying to do is to keep fabric that you can’t find at any of the other places that sell fabrics.”

A former Miss SVG Carnival Queen, Kimon has evolved into one of the region’s most promising designers in recent years. Coming from a family of sewers (with both grandmothers and several of her aunts as seamstresses), Kimon has been experimenting with fabrics and designs ever since she began playing with dolls as a toddler. Her passion grew over the years into what now seems to be a natural talent.

In 1999, Monique Tash of Image Modelling Agency asked Kimon to become a model but her intention was to do her designs and get them out. It was not long before her big break came through the ‘Fashion Caribbean Show’ and from there Kimon gained a reputation and acquired a regional clientele. Even while she pursued a Degree in Management and Psychology at the University of the West Indies Cave Hill Campus in Barbados, those who wished to enhance their appearance and beauty by wearing her designs sought her out. They even turned to her for make-up tips.

After completing her studies, Kimon returned home and began job hunting, but kept in mind that she would one day like to own her own fashion business. She eventually approached the Centre for Enterprise Development Inc and immediately her idea was seen as worthwhile.

“The person that I dealt with was so excited when I told her what my idea was,” Kimon smiles as she explains how CED prepared her business plan. “And I got excited from reading through it. I just went through the process and my dream started to become a reality.”

She believes the most difficult step is bringing a business to life and Kimon is eternally grateful that CED was there to guide her.

“I think it’s really good that there is a place where people can go just with an idea and have it become reality. They are very, very helpful in terms of giving suggestions and little pointers about the market in St Vincent and the Grenadines so that you don’t go into something where you have too much competition,” says Kimon. “So I’m encouraging anybody if you have an idea and you’re serious about it, go to CED and sit down and talk to anybody there and I’m sure that they would be helpful in every way.”