Anya Ayoung Chee Exclusive:
On winning Project Runway and surviving the tapes
Bhagwansingh Exclusive:
Wedding of the decade
Trinidad Fashion An industry in crisis?
Boom time for Gold The time to invest is NOW!
issue 3 • Oct 2011 • us $2.95
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Editor’s Note
Contents
Something Old, Something New The Barbados Chattel House combines fine art photography with the history of Caribbean architecture. This visual masterpiece is brought to life through the lens of internationally known photographer, Bob Kiss alongside Dr. Henry Fraser who crafts a beautiful narrative using his extensive knowledge of the history of Caribbean architecture. Cost: $440.00 Available exclusively at Nigel R. Khan Bookseller
For your Coffee Table The MACO Caribbean Homes Coffee Table book is filled with some of the most magical homes in the region from Cuba to Curacao. This compilation of Caribbean architecture will not only make your coffee table a bit more attractive, but will also make a fab gift this season. Cost: $150 Available at bookstores island wide
The page title above was designed by Paul Antonio Attong, Trinidadian born Master Scribe to royalty.
Featured inside
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36 Publisher: Toute Bagai Publishing Limited Managing Editor: Nikola Lashley
48 Race To The Finish
Design & Layout: Daryl Nagil
12 Tale of a Master Scribe
52 Cupcake Revolution
Nikki Ashby-Mills, Adrian Pinheiro, Bekim Betoni Rauseo, Jaffari Saleem,
16 Gold Fever
54 Angostura’s Rum Festival
Photography: Christopher Daniel, Fotograe, Gary Jordan,
20 Embrace The Unexpected
56 Young Blood
Productions, Ash Design, camdoc3, egon, Eye Design Photo Team, Jani
22 Let Them Eat Cake
60 The Evolution Of Anya
SavchenkoJulia, 7io, ViktorLugovskoy), Lifetime TV, Andrea De Silva,
30 Read Freely
70 Editor Loves
MACO People Trinidad Issue 3 , 2011
32 Rosé Wine For Wimps?
72 Hideaway Boutiques
36 Swan Lake
76 YUM
38 Easy On The Eye
78 Meet The Joy of Rum
40 A Talk With Ty Batson
80 Harry D.P. Sooknarine
44 Trini Health Nut
84 Insurance SOE
8 Fashion Week or Fashion Weak
Writers: Shaun Gianetti, Zoe Knaggs, Nikola Lashley, Jeremy Matouk, Savannah West, Giselle Laronde-West.
sites
Books Mags &
Daryl Nagil, Antony Scully, istockphoto.com (A-Motion Media Bryson Studios, Inc., Lathuric, lidian, malerapaso, MentalArt, R.J.Lerich, Appleton Estate Jamaica Rum, Image Farctory Limited, Absolute, For Advertising Inquiries please contact: Nasma Mohammed-Chin-nasma2002@aol.com Michelle Hart-michelle@macomag.com P: 868.622.0519 F: 868.628.6909 Toute Bagai Publishing Limited 26 Kelly Kenny Street, Woodbrook, Port of Spain, Trinidad Tel (868) 622-0519 Fax (868) 628-6909, Email info@macomag.com Web www.macomag.com Printed by: The Office Authority Printing Division The cover and content of M People are fully protected by Toute Bagai Publishing Ltd and cannot be reproduced in any form without written permission. Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in these pages are the views of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of MACO Magazines, Toute Bagai Publishing or any of its advertisers and collaborators.
Touch the Caribbean on iPad!! If you are travelling this season, download your favourite MACO Magazine on your iPad and bon voyage! Flip through this gorgeous Caribbean magazine on your device, connect with advertisers on a whole new level and always have access to your favourite features. Zinio.com
I’m having a bite to eat with my daughter at Caffé del Mare, Crews Inn and in walks...well, who I am absolutely convinced is a famous Hollywood actor. He smiles shyly and says, “Hi,’’ which somehow upholds my chief feeling and subsequent chain of thought. He’s with a woman, who, in four seconds flat I convince myself could only be his publicist, obviously from New York. Under my breath I confer with my daughter… “I’m sure it’s… Oh, you know… him from that movie…he plays…” Our bill arrives. I can no longer restrain my nosiness, I turn and utter words I never thought I’d hear leave my own lips, “Excuse me, are you... are you, that actor?’’ Before I can say another word the woman, pipes in and says brightly, in a bouncy American accent, “Who do you think he is?” She’s half laughing and smiles with exaggerated patience. “Well… uhmm, ahh, I think…uhmm, I’m not sure’’ comes my flubbing reply. Some months ago I made a valiant effort; worked my best contacts to secure an exclusive interview with Dawn Gibbs, wife of the Commissioner of Police. She declined my request, citing security reasons and I moved on until that day in Crews Inn, when I found myself face to face with—not a New York publicist at all, but Dawn Gibbs herself. You see, I had mistaken her husband Dwayne for the Hollywood actor, William Defoe. My daughter snickered mirthfully at my social faux pas. In retelling this story and by default, but with much resistance from my daughter, my version of events are: I got my exclusive interview with Dawn Gibbs (although it lasted only for five seconds and she asked all the questions) after all! And she was everything I thought she wouldn’t be: riotously funny, bright and super engaging and why wouldn’t she be, married to a guy that looks like William Defoe! In this edition of MACO People, Trinidad our genuinely exclusive stories and interviews are sure to leave you totally star-struck! I do hope you’re sitting down. Comments, suggestions, feedback, criticisms...get in touch. nik@ macomag.com or like us at facebook.com/macomagazines or follow us at twitter.com/macomagazines. NIK LASHLEY Managing Editor
Toute Bagai Publishing Limited 26 Kelly Kenny Street, Woodbrook, Port of Spain, Trinidad. W.I. Tel (868) 622 0519 Fax (868) 628 6909 Email: info@macomag.com Website: www.macomag.com Facebook: www.facebook.com/MACOmagazines Mpeople 3 Twitter: www.twitter.com/MACOmagazines
Kudos to Ryan Morra from Radio Shack, The Falls at Westmall. His superb customer service lead to the happy purchase of a discounted iTouch. Ryan Morra, MACO People, Trinidad salutes 3 you!
cake
Let Them Eat
Writer: Nikola Lashley Photography: Fotograe
Once upon a time in twenty-first century Trinidad and Tobago, the ballroom of the Hyatt Regency Hotel, Port of Spain became an 18th century French neoclassical banquet hall.
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Arianna and Shane Ragoo
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Over 600 specially invited guests and VIPs quaffed champagne from crystal flutes and waited for their royal hosts with anticipation, as they nibbled hors d’oeuvres served on silver platters .
The ballroom was festooned with exquisite scented flower arrangements flown in from Miami, incorporated with grapes and strawberries and other fruits. The seating included antique chairs, around the family table— the chairs, a surprise gift, on loan from Versailles, Paris. Even the invitations were fantastically French. There was no place for soca or calypso; instead the soaring classical symphonies of Beethoven, Mozart and Brahms played out over the Waterfront.
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But, this opulent scene was no theatrical period drama. It was the enchanting and epic wedding day theme of Arianna de Montrichard, 28, and Shane Ragoo, 29 (aka Mr and Mrs Gucci) held in August of this year. “My grandparents have eight grandchildren in all, and I’m the first,’’ Arianna explained. Her grandmother is the famed “Lady’’ Helen Bhagwansingh of the hardware empire. “I wanted to incorporate all the grandchildren to do something special. That’s when I came up with the candle lighting ceremony. I said let each child walk with a candle to prepare the stage for us to come and grace everyone with our presence and the song I choose for that was the song from Kate and William’s wedding,
Ballroom, Hyatt Regency Hotel, Trinidad
The big day was the product of a year-long planning operation— meticulously realised by Susan Bhagwansingh, mother of the bride.
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I Was Glad [by Sir Charles Hubert Hastings Parry from Psalm 122]. Then the Majestic Herald and Fanfare specially composed for us by Rellon Brown of The Dominant Seventh Brass Quintet, after that we had a trumpet fanfare and walked in to the hall to the Prince of Denmark’s March [by Jeremiah Clarke]. We really wanted to set the theme for the day. We also chose some songs from the movie Sense and Sensibility. When we went to stick the cake I chose Fantasia on Greensleeves [by Ralph Vaughn Williams] that apparently was a love song that Henry VIII had composed for Anne Boelyn.” Arianna is “obsessed” with European history, and the ignominious life and style of Marie Antoinette, the last queen of France, was an irresistible icon. Not to mention the charmed lives of the Tudors and Windsors, whose rank and wealth also hold relevance to the overall look and feel of her wedding day. In every detail, there was a low-fi nod to the period of the French ruling class. Except when it came to shoes. Shane wore Christian Louboutin and Arianna dazzled in Manolo Blahnik. “We went to Kleinfeld in New York. I chose a dress designed by Pnina Tornai.’’ This is the bridal shop from the Say Yes to the Dress TV series and Pnina is their most elaborate designer. “It was everything I think Marie Antoinette would have worn—the feathers the pearls, the lace the crystals. The tailor who was working downstairs with Shane said, ‘You know what? I need to go upstairs and see your fiancées dress.’ When he saw what I was wearing he said to Shane ‘Okay, I Violinist, The Dominant Seventh Brass Quintet
In every detail, there was a low-fi nod to the period of the French ruling class. Except when it came to shoes.
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Running fashionably late from their traditional Hindu ceremony, the couple arrived at the Hyatt by Rolls Royce from the Vias Mandir temple in Chaguanas.
Mother of the bride, Suzanne Bhagwansingh
need to go all out for you, because you can’t be anything less. We’re going to go with tails and something very classic.’ ‘’
with William and Kate’s cake, which was quite beautiful and she was comfortable with it, we studied the design for hours.”
The cake, inspired by the wedding of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert in 1840,was conceived to be an exact replica, but posed too big a challenge for the caterer.
The matching solid white gold, three set diamond encrusted wedding bands, with no less than sixty, 2-4 carat diamonds in each, epitomised the couple’s attention to detail and love of all things outrageously bling-bling. The big day was the product of a year-long planning operation - meticulously realised by Susan Bhagwansingh, mother of the bride— involving family and friends, an army of wedding planners including Roxanne Pantin from iCreate Events Limited and Ricardo Gomez. Ornate accessories, gold plates and gold cutlery were scouted from across the globe. Thirty cases of
“We had a tough debate over the wedding cake. At nine feet tall, I believe it was the tallest in royal history, weighing something like 300 pounds.’’ When Arianna presented a picture of the cake to Mrs. Hannays the wedding caterer, “she was like, no, no, no, no, no! Oh, my God, this is impossible, this is impossible.’ She just started panicking. In the end we said Okay, we think we can work
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champagne were flown in from the States and the finest spirits on the planet flowed freely. Running fashionably late from their traditional Hindu ceremony, the couple arrived at the Hyatt by Rolls Royce from the Vias Mandir temple in Chaguanas. Decked in traditional Indian attire, they were greeted by “tipsy and overwhelmed” guests, an ensemble of tassa drummers and two courtiers in bejewelled Venetian masks and costumes. “I said to the chef at the Hyatt, listen, I want people to walk in to this wedding and feel like they are actually walking into Versailles. So we had macaroons, lots of French desserts, everything had wine in it.”
Once the vows had been exchanged— in keeping with the luxurious theme, Shane whisked his wife away to Sandals Grande Antigua Resort. “We just loved Sandals, wonderful! The service the people…the place, it was just beautiful. One of my friends just called me yesterday to ask me about it, because his wife is getting vacation, I just said to him, ‘trust me, just go you guys will have a blast.’ ” After the honeymoon, it was back to work and creating the perfect home. And by no means is this blue blood mingling with blue collar. Arianna is working her way up in the family hardware business while Shane studied engineering and works for an oil company.
Together with the eminent Trinidadian architect, Nigel Ali, they are building a classical Frenchstyle mansion in Valsayn, complete with dining hall, library and, of course, a tea room. A second home is also on the cards, a dream cottage in the English countryside. On the question of babies, Shane’s in no hurry. “I think we’ll do like Jayz and Beyonce and enjoy married life first. We’re that type of couple, we want to enjoy our married life first and travel and spend some time together,” he said. Wholeheartedly, we raise a glass to Arianna and Shane. And long may they reign.
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