– Guyanese Icon celebrates 20 years of designing
Guyanese fashion icon, Sonia Noel, is celebrating two decades in the fashion industry this year and she is going “Beyond the Runway” – A milestone that was not a smooth flow but rather one with challenges, long nights and days and sometimes little time for the family. 
Her success has definitely centred on the commitment, dedication and inspiration she gained from many with whom she came in contact with. Her passion for fashion grew after attending several high-level fashion shows and thought that with so much talent in Guyana, she should promote such. She has worked with a number of local designs who are now the faces of some of their products.
The small town girl who hails from Bartica, Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni) dreamt big and had the belief that nothing was impossible once you set your mind to reaching that goal. That dream started in her hometown and blossomed to the entire world.
“My Home Economics teacher Morna Quamina Lee told me years later that when I stood up in her class at 14 and told her I wanted to be a designer she thought that I was crazy coming from a mining town with such a dream and that it wasn’t possible. She also confessed that she thought I was brave because it was her secret desire to be a designer too,” Noel explained.
As a primary school child, she taught her peers to make dolls’ clothing out of newspaper. Her aunt would go through her wardrobe to gather the pieces that she did not want and altered them for her creative niece.
Although her first love was fashion, not many options were available to her. She wanted to give back to her community and she decided to be a teacher at the Bartica Community High School where she taught for two years. Through the years she was also designing for herself, friends and family.
In her early twenties, she took a leap of faith and started her own boutique, Mariska’s Fashion, named after her elder daughter. She sold imported clothing but continued to wear outfits that she designed and people became interested in what she was wearing. A few years later, she launched Mariska’s Designs.
Her designs can be worn at any occasion, ranging from a normal day at the beach to a ballroom setting. During her years in business, she has dressed from housewives to First Ladies.
Noteworthy, however, was Michelle Williams’ inclusion in her touring wardrobe of a poncho from Sonia’s “First Resort” collection, during her stint with FELA. Only recently, wife of renowned St Lucian Jazz musician, Ronald “Boo” Hinkson, who attended this year’s 58th annual Grammys as a judge, caused heads to turn in a Sonia Noel designed outfit.
Noel has received many local, regional and international awards for her contribution to the fashion industry and her philanthropic work. She founded Guyana Fashion Weekend in 2007 and Guyana Model Search and Designers Portfolio in 2008.
She proved her mettle by participating in many significant fashion events and exhibitions throughout the Caribbean, US, Canada, Spain, China, India and London. She was featured in numerous publications around the world.
Her inclusion as one of the seven regional designers selected to show in Fashion Engage London 2012, during the Olympics, is another distinctive achievement which serves to distinguish her as pro-actively championing Caribbean fashion. The Guyanese designer is a peculiar mix of designer powerhouse and savvy businesswoman.
Back in 2008, the Government of Guyana commissioned her to head the fashion component of Carifesta X, which proved to be one of, if not the most, comprehensive programmes at that event.
Always on the cutting edge, she creates and contributes projects that indulge her humanitarian side. She is forever donating to a cause which includes producing an annual charity show “Style Mission”, which raises funds for a selected charity.
From the dispossessed to the differently able, from the street urchin to the senior citizen, from the cancer stricken to the AIDS afflicted, giving hope to those who feel abandoned, even to providing homes, this caring individual sees it as her duty to give back to her fellow citizens.
Noel has a number of activities and events to mark this major milestone in her life.
Last year, she launched “Conversations and Clothing with Sonia Noel” in Guyana and had a successful tour in the US with this new concept. Now she is beginning this celebration with “Beyond the Runway”.
“I have been fortunate and thankful for supportive family, genuine friends, great colleagues and God for blessing me with my talents and giving me the vision to use it. I have ? truly ? found my purpose”, she noted. ?
When we hear or see the word runway, we think about models, designers, clothing etc.? When the name Sonia Noel is mentioned with runway, it most definitely has to be about fashion.?
They are so many exciting and empowering things beyond the runway –meaningful things that can motivate and inspire the lives of many with the aim of having a better quality of life.
These exciting programmes will be created for TV, radio and newspaper columns in Guyana and the Caribbean commencing this weekend. Only recently bestowed with a doctorate, Noel has extended an invitation to one and all to join her on this exciting journey she refers to as “Beyond The Runway”.
