Renowned Bahamian fashion designer, Theo Sealy, also known as Theodore Elyett, has been tapped by Disney to design new garments for some of its characters on Lighthouse Cay.
Sealy who is also a local journalist was recently interviewed along with Disney Regional Public Relations Officer, Joey Gaskins at ZNS studios about the new collaboration. He said, “when people see these characters in full Bahamian wear I want them to be proud and see our culture on display.”
Gaskins explained that the collaboration with Elyett has long been in the works. “This really started with the conversation around how we could get Theo to do uniforms for us on site. I sent my first email about Theo to our internal team on July 16th, 2022. So it was a long time in the making and that team had the imagination to really think bigger than what I had initially thought. They said let’s get Theo to dress our iconic characters.”
Elyett revealed that the beauty of Junkanoo will shine through in his designs. “When you talk about the pasting that the layering on of fringe, there’s one character in specific who I made sure to give a Junkanoo jacket to because to me I wanted when that character is moving on the island I want you to look and see and feel Junkanoo. I don’t want to give out too much information about the fabrications but I can tell you that you will see an authentically Bahamian Junkanoo inspired full collection on these characters.”
The fashion designer said he is a testament that if you put in the work the world will be the pathway to your door to give you a platform to shine.
