Fresh approach to fashion - Tribe Nine places focus on personal style

Tribe Nine Studios CEO and creative director Troy Oraine Williamson is replacing gendered fashion in the collective Jamaican ethos with an emphasis on personal style.

Williamson, who spent his early years in Denham Town, Kingston, before migrating to London, England, at a tender age, told THE STAR he credits the Internet for the shift towards more unisex fashion.

"I think the Internet kind of shifted the way that Jamaicans actually saw themselves. It kind of holds up a mirror to who they are as people, show us how creative we are, how much we push boundaries, how much we've shifted cultures even. I think that kind of exposure just lends itself to us owning who we are as individuals," Williamson told THE STAR.

He continued, "And then also you're seeing a lot of international people coming out here and expressing themselves fully, and you're placing yourself in a box because of society and what people say. You're not supposed to wear a certain colour as a man, a certain colour as a woman, a certain style of clothes."

The COVID-19 pandemic also playing role, Williamson says people might just be fed up with restrictions all together.

"I think we've been on lockdown for so long. People now are like, you know what forget it. I'm gonna do me, I'm gonna do what feels good for me and I'm gonna do what I feel like inside, out."

Williamson's brand focus on personal style rather than trends in fashion have allowed him to cast out the metaphorical rule book and just create great looks.

"Here at Tribe Nine we focus more on personal style. My whole thing is what works for you as an individual and not necessarily what's working in fashion right now."

"We spoke about what Jamaica is doing right now in terms of our culture, but I think a lot of the time we kinda step in our own way for fashion and style. So I think we need to just allow personal style to take over instead of looking at what people want us to wear and what fits that mood. So I think with Tribe Nine stuff, it's kind like unconventional fabrics like this kind of see-through kind of piece. It's very easy breezy and guys can wear it as well as women. That's what we do around here we kind of push the envelope a little bit," he said peering around the studio filled with fabrics mimicking the colours of the rainbow and the sounds of Koffee, an artiste he had only recently styled in his custom fashions.

Influenced by all the places Williamson has lived, Tribe Nine is not only attempting to push the envelop of traditionally masculine or feminine clothing, it also aims at melting away geographic borders.

"I have a lot of inspiration behind the pieces. For this one in particular," he said pointing to a canary yellow, cottony wool sweater vest, "I wanted to create that preppy look, as you said. Just kinda going back to my old school life in London. I love infusing that in anything that we do at Tribe Nine, for you to put them on and just feel like kings and queens and just royalty."

"I am very much inspired by just fashion and style in general and I don't really stick to like a season or a collection per se. So these give you like a flow summer kind of vibe," he said referencing satin, pinstripe kimono-type shorts and pants sets, "and these will kinda give you like you can wear them in Canada, you can wear them in the U.K. (United Kingdom) in New York even. We're very international so it's not just about what Jamaicans will wear in Jamaica so that's why you see different inspirations on different things."

While skeptics may write off this shift as another uptown fad, local celebrities like Lila Ike, Koffee, Beenie Man, Chronixx, Etana and Jesse Royal have shown their support for Williamson's ideologies, the latter even sporting Tribe Nine Studios designs to the recent Grammy Awards.

"I think it's Jamaica, I think it's our culture. If we look at Elephant Man back in the day, or even going back to Shabba, they were pushing agendas of individually, that's what music has been doing for so long. So I think like you can go downtown. Sometimes I even go when I'm shopping for a styling shoot and some of the women are like, 'the man dem come and buy out all di tights dem', so you know it's like that kind of thing just shows you that there are different expressions and we wear a lot of different things, we just haven't formulated it," he said. "Or we haven't seen it as an islandwide thing, we've just seen little pockets of it and now that we're being exposed to so much we're seeing it a lot more so it's definitely not an uptown thing. And I think uptown is kind of boring to be honest. Dancehall is where it's at, that's where you see real expression."

Backed by the sounds of the sewing machine being used by one of his workers dutifully stitching away to bring life to the visions of Williamson's imagination, he explained the added layers of personalisation that implements at no added cost.

"I try my best not to put buttons or anything on these because I want the person that comes in to interpret what they wanna do with it. So if you come in you can put buttons on there, you can leave it the way it is or you can put a velcro on there to close it. So it's kind like a little customisation."

"Anyone can shop in here but you just have to make sure that you come here with open mind and that you come here with a kind of essence of I want to elevate what it is that I'm doing you know. Or I want to add a little bit of colour to my wardrobe."

Seeing the traditional fashion gender roles only further casted out in the future, Williamson says he encourages everyone to step out of their own way and water the things that make them happy.

"I think just step away from yourself and stop standing in your own way. I feel like we do that a lot as people, we conform and we box ourselves in a lot. So I think just look at what it is that makes you happy. If it's a cut off foot pants and a Clarks then that's cool, it's your personal style but also don't be afraid or so put off when you see someone wearing a crop top. If you see a guy wearing a crop top and a baggy pants like that's also his personal style. If he's not judging your style then why you judging his."