Three years ago, while managing nearly 20 rental properties, Anselm Mathurin began sketching an idea. Guests at his Calabash Condos had started asking for keepsakes — items that would capture Saint Lucia beyond the postcard. With that in mind, he thought, ‘Why not create a fabric, a print that could symbolise the island itself?’
This month, that idea walked the runway at New York Fashion Week.
Mathurin’s path to fashion wasn’t obvious. A former telecom executive, he had spent years travelling and observing how other countries embraced their own motifs in cloth — the Bahamas with its Androsia prints and Grenada with nutmeg-inspired patterns.
“While I appreciate the madras, it’s not uniquely Saint Lucian,” he told the St. Lucia Times.
The calabash tree, already part of his company’s logo, became his starting point.
“I was thinking, why don’t we extend that brand into a print, some kind of indigenous fashion expression?”
The goal, he explained, was aligned with Calabash Condo’s ethos of “Caribbean minimalism — slick, light, easy on the eyes.”
When Export Saint Lucia put out its call for submissions from designers for its Export the Runway show, Mathurin took it as a signal to complete his first collection. The line featured pared-down silhouettes with pantsuits, crop tops, and caftans cut to flatter while emphasising simplicity and natural elegance.
In the show’s audience that day was a New York Fashion Week scout. Shortly after, Mathurin received an invitation to show in this fall’s line-up, which wrapped September 16. He presented under the sustainable fashion category, curated by Nigerian designer Naomi Alabi.
“It could be intimidating — you see high fashion and creative expression that’s almost art installation,” Mathurin admitted.
“Your knee-jerk reaction is, where do I fit in? But when we stepped onto the runway, just like back home, our line seemed to be a refreshing change.”
His presentation also included accessories by the celebrated calabash artisan Andrew Mondesir, a collaborator Mathurin credits and hopes to work with further.
The reception has already sparked interest for additional international showcases. For now, he sees his debut as a beginning.
“These are still pilot designs,” he said, noting plans to refine and expand. Profit, though, is not his primary measure of success.
“I may be a creative, but I’m not a designer,” he said.
“My objective is to create an indigenous print that gives our people more options… We are the calabash, the rose, the marguerite, the Amazona versicolour [Saint Lucia’s national bird] — all of these things that make us distinctly Saint Lucian.”
Keep up with the brand on Instagram at www.instagram.com/wearcalabash.
