Maltese designer for Top Model UK fashion show this weekend

Maltese clothes design label Kaii Couture will be showcasing 32 outfits at the Top Model UK’s Fashion International show this weekend.

Kaii Couture director Annabelle Spiteri, 38, will be among the 21 international designers taking part in this high street fashion show at Hilton Metropole on Edgware Road in London.

Top Model UK is one of the leading model campaigns in Britain.

Marking its fifth anniversary, the Top Model UK search started last September and will be concluded with a three-day fashion show between tomorrow and Sunday.

Kaii Couture was picked from among other local designers when Ms Spiteri launched an exclusive 10-outfit line called Purity during her first clothes show in August 2010 organised by InFashion Malta. This timeless collection, inspired by “white, white and more white”, is a fusion of femininity and nature.

Impressed, the show director of Top Model UK, Geoff Cox, cast three Maltese models for the international show and Kaii Couture was asked to prepare a themed logbook.

All hyped-up, Ms Spiteri set out on a journey of vibrant colours inspired by the Far East, which bred the exclusive 12-outfit Empression clothes line.

Her collection tells of a Chinese Empress draped in rich mustard and jade green silks, gazing upon midnight blue skies rising above scarlet temples.

Empression is a journey through history, recounting power, strength and femininity with bold design, temple-pointed shoulders and yin yang collars.

“I got carried away by a book called China Saga. The emotions triggered my designer instincts and I transformed this armchair journey into a line of clothes,” a bubbly Ms Spiteri said.

Complemented with eight other outfits, Ms Spiteri’s collection was lined up for Sunday’s grand finale, which would see the likes of Eva Grygo, Sonya Vajifdar (Monsoon Collection) and Frank Usher among others.

Mr Cox described the outfits as “strong pieces” and paired them with high fashion models, “la crème de la crème”, an excited Ms Spiteri said.

“This is something huge for us and there was more to come,” she added. Kaii Couture was last week asked to double up its act and replace a designer for tomorrow’s show. Ms Spiteri’s line Purity would be closing the night.

“We were, of course, over the moon,” the clothes designer giggled.

The feedback during the fitting session in London last Friday was positive and her collection was described as “vibrant and full of life” by the director himself.

A shoeaholic, Ms Spiteri has custom-tailored her own clothes for the last 24 years. A bank signatory by profession, the Maltese designer travels quite frequently to London and Rome to keep up to date with high street fashion. Her main inspiration however, is nature and the local landscape.

Malta’s fashion market is limited, she added. The island was gradually opening up to the fashion world but there was still a lot to do. Compared to foreigners, Maltese designers had to work much harder to expose their talent, Ms Spiteri said.

“As a local designer, the lack of international contact has hit me real hard and I’m constantly hoping that, one day, we’ll make it big out there,” the young designer added with gleaming eyes.