The whirr of his sewing machine is heard less frequently nowadays, but the fashion-conscious people of St Joseph know anytime they need his services, Clayton Maynard is willing to respond with an exclusive design for that special occasion. He is recognised as the fashion designer who for decades, put his parish in the spotlight with his winning creations worn by many a contestant in beauty pageants in St Joseph and elsewhere. Many St Joseph school children have been outfitted with a meticulously-made school uniform supplied by Maynard, free of charge – a philanthropic gesture he extended to other parishes over time. Maynard had been sewing quietly at his St Joseph home as a virtual unknown on the local fashion scene, for several years, when he one day shot to prominence with the winning design of the gown worn by Miss Independence Inter-Parish, Tara Holdipp, the 18-year-old St Joseph beauty who carried off the queen’s crown in the 1995 inter-parish pageant. In winning the prize for Best Gown in the pageant, he beat other more well-known designers. Before that, he had been at it for 18 years, sewing for many people in the parish who sought him out once they saw what he had created for other people. Maynard’s talent for sewing manifested itself as early as his primary school days at then South Borough (later known as Clifton Hill) Primary, a Moravian school in St Joseph. “My passion for sewing started when I was around ten years old. My mum had an old hard-working hand sewing machine and at Christmas, I would always help her stitch these little chair cushions. But in learning to stitch I would take pieces of fabric and I would draw lines with the ruler from school and then I would get on the machine and try as hard as possible to guide the machine to do a straight line. That went on until I got to about 16 when I had to stop going to school after my father’s illness.” He went as an apprentice to a tailor in St Peter and remained there for three years, learning the rudiments of the trade, until his mentor thought he was good enough to venture out on his own. With the experience gained, he started making pants for men and women. The foray into dress-making came about when a friend asked him to design and make her bridal gown. “It was my first attempt at a dress and I managed to pull it off.” It was not the best, but it was fitting. It was also a signal undertaking that opened the door for him to build a reputation as the designer from St Joseph who “put out stunning brides”. So popular did he become as a bridal designer, he quipped: “I would be dressing one bride at my house and another one at my sister and I am running from house to house to house to house to make sure that all is well.” His reputation as a designer of formal wear also spread to other parts of Barbados and he grew more in popularity every time his pageant gown came out among the winners. Maynard was not selfish with his talent and the resulting success. He endeavoured to give back to St Joseph. “Through all of this through all of it, I was also aiding the schools in St Joseph which had children who were less fortunate. I would go into town, buy the fabric, make uniforms, and I would go to the principals and try to find out who were the less fortunate children and make uniforms for them for free and hand them out over to the schools.” This was not limited to Joseph schools, but also extended to schools in St Peter and St Lucy. Maynard also worked with the Transport Board for about 40 years while continuing to do his sewing on the side. During that tenure, he got the opportunity to sew for some of his colleagues. Through the skill he demonstrated, he was afforded the opportunity to do formal studies at the Barbados Community College, earning a diploma in fashion technology. He shared that expertise with Transport Board colleagues when the Board was restructuring. “I had the chance to conduct a six-month class where I taught the people who were transitioning how to sew their own shirts and stitch up something and how to make other things for themselves.” He also opened his doors and facilities to neighbours and other residents of his parish interested in learning to sew, teaching them the rudiments, without charge. It is an example of the generosity for which Maynard said the people of St Joseph are known. “In St Joseph, anybody will give you a breadfruit and a few potatoes or anything they have in the ground. That is the way we are . . . . St Joseph is unique in every sense of the word, – unique in the way that if you come to St Joseph, you don’t leave empty-handed. We are the kind of people who will give, give, give to whoever comes to St Joseph. “We are very welcoming people and when you come up here, most times you build a bond that is not easily broken,” the bred and born St Joseph resident said, proudly touting the virtues of the people of his parish generally and those of Union Village where he was born, in particular. Painting a picture of a happy, carefree childhood, the 68-year-old Maynard spoke of boyhood daysriding down hills on home-made “trolleys” (a four-wheeled cart with a steering device); skating into gullies on cabbage palm fronds and playing marble cricket. The faithful member of St Ann’s Anglican Church is regarded as the parish godfather. His name was always the first to be suggested when parents of newborn babies were seeking godparents for the “christening” or baptism of their child. Maynard reckons he has as many as “over 100” godchildren as he shared: “I came up in St Ann’s Church . . . . I sang in the choir; I served at the altar; I would have done everything in the church, so anybody who has a baby finds me to be godfather and I have not neglected my duty as a godparent.” At his peak, he was operating when prominent local fashion designers such as Wayne Cadogan, Simon Foster and Carol Cadogan, were high on the fashion register with their work being strutted across fashion show stages around Barbados. Maynard regards those days as the glory days of style in Barbados and regrets the apparent lack of decency in fashion worn by many a young woman in Barbados today. “I go, especially to funerals, and I see where dressing has gone and it bothers me. I think that ladies should dress fashionably, but more conservatively than they are doing. I cannot handle the body showing and the things that ride way up on the legs.” Maynard is now two years into retirement, though he quipped: “I shouldn’t say retirement, because I still do little things on the side for friends or clients who still insist they want something done, but the work has slowed down considerably.” He concluded: “It was not about the money, it was about satisfaction on the faces of my customers and that I was living my passion. I enjoyed it all.