At 18 years old, Jessica Hewitt-Haynes now wears the ‘headpiece’ of winner following the final adjudication of the Xaymaca International’s Inaugural Costume Design Competition.

An eye-catching and ‘futuristic’ design dubbed ‘Derezzed’ will be showcased at Xaymaca’s 2020 Costume Presentation on November 29 at the National Indoor Sports Centre.

“The inspiration behind my design came from seeing the holographic futuristic looking material, which was one of our compulsory resources that we received from the Xaymaca Team,” said Hewitt-Haynes.

Jessica’s interest in entering the competition evolved from her early exposure to, and long-time love for carnival culture. During her final year at Coulsdon College (United Kingdom), she studied Art and Design and had the opportunity to design a carnival costume on her own for the first time. The Xaymaca design competition was her second time experimenting with carnival costume designing.

Despite not receiving the most votes on Xaymaca International’s Instagram Page for her final design, Jessica stated that she feels “ecstatic about winning and receiving this opportunity”. During the voting stage, she pointed out that “the comments under the post for my costume really helped me to feel better because persons were saying the design was unique”.

Jessica fell in love with carnival in London, where she was born, and enjoyed the beauty of the festival in Jamaica, where she attended primary and high school. Her greatest lesson learnt from the competition was being confident and believing in herself and her design skills. When asked if she would encourage other designers and carnival enthusiasts to enter the competition she stated, “Yes! It was an amazing experience working with, and getting advice from, some of the experienced designers and production persons in the carnival industry that have worked with Xaymaca International”.