The premium Kadooment band and 2015 Best New Band and 2016 Best Presentation and Band Of The Year winner, Xhosa Barbados, has launched a reality show entitled Xhosa’s Design Challenge. Hosted by Xhosa design committee member Niara Fraser and and Kevin Drayton, the web series consists of five episode which are less than six minutes in length.
In the first episode, Kevin Drayon says that the aim of the show is to:
“…assist Barbados to help designers to portray their work and to promote culture; the art of producing costumes.”
Speaking to Zeitgeist Entertainment Magazine, Niara Fraser said that Xhosa Barbados invited unknown, local designers to sign up and they received nineteen applications. Those nineteen applicants were reduced to nine in the interview portion of the competition during the first episode. As of the release of the third episode, four contestants have been sent home with only five remaining.
Fraser also said that they were very impressed with the interest they received, that there is a lot of talent and potential locally and that they are open to the series eventually airing on TV with longer episodes. The fourth episode will be released tomorrow, Saturday, April 8th. The fifth and final episode will air the following day on Sunday, leading up to the band’s Cooler Fete and Launch Party at the Barbados Defense Force Drill Hill at St. Ann’s Fort where the winner’s costume will be presented. The band’s theme this year is Pure.
The winner of the competition will receive a cash prize and their design a section in this year’s Xhosa Barbados Kadooment line up. The first runner up will receive a prize presented by Standard Distribution, one of the sponsors of the show. The shows other sponsors are Infinity on the Beach Hotel and main sponsor the Barbados Public Worker’s Co-operative Credit Union.
Watch the first episode of Xhosa’s Design Challenge below and visit their Facebook page to view episodes two and three.
https://www.facebook.com/xhosabarbados/videos/1841407242794057/
