SINT MAARTEN (GREAT BAY) - The St. Maarten Hospitality & Trade Association (SHTA) selected fashion designer Zillah Duzon-Hazel as the Cultural Icon to be highlighted on the association's 2025 Events Calendar. This was announced today by the association and main 2025 Event Calendar supporter Caribbean Liquors and Tobacco (CLT).
Duzon-Hazel, founder of St. Maarten fashion brand “Jolie Duzon” has over time become St. Maarten’s most well-known fashion designer, both locally and internationally. Jolie Duzons lively designs with bright colors are a well-known phenomenon amongst both residents and visitors.
Over the past year, the designer increased in international fame by exposing her designs on the catwalks of the Bomb Fashion Show during the New York Fashion Week and regional fashion summit Summer Sizzle BVI. Duzon-Hazels colorful designs have amongst others been worn by the Prime Minister on the opening day of parliament in 2023 and presented to Her Majesty Queen Maxima during the visit of the royal family to St. Maarten in 2023.
Duzon-Hazel is elated to be selected to be featured on the 2025 Events Calendar, printed 30,000 times and visited 15,000 times online over the past year. \"I am very grateful for this exposure and at the same time humbled to follow in the footsteps of great St. Maarten creatives like Clara Reyes, Isidore York, King Beaubeau and Ruby Bute. I hope that my contribution inspires local talent to step forward as aspiring creative entrepreneurs and pursue their dreams\".
By adding fashion celebrity Duzon-Hazel to its tradition of highlighting cultural icons, SHTA underlines St. Maarten’s creative talent reaching beyond its established art branches like painting, music, dance, photography and writing.
Previously, SHTA supported the efforts of Duzon-Hazel to add new branches to the St. Maarten’s economy by highlighting her company in its in-room magazine Visit St. Maarten / St. Martin and its website Visitstmaarten.com. During the April St. Maarten / St. Martin Annual Regional Tradeshow (SMART), the association also invited the designer to guide travel agents and tour operators through Philipsburg. She, amongst others, toured the group along the colorful murals in the capital, one being of her own making.
On July 2nd, SHTA and CLT jointly commenced production of the 2025 SHTA Events Calendar. The 2025 calendar will be the largest edition thus far, measured in print and digital dispersion. Apart from active distribution throughout the island, SHTA membership and beyond, the calendar is an important \"business card\" showing liveliness of the destination towards visitors and allowing travel agents, foreign dignitaries and journalists to plan their visits.
SHTA looks forward to jointly working on the calendar with CLT, Grant Thornton, Telem, Amasterdam, the St. Maarten Tourism Bureau and l'Office du Tourisme. The association calls on companies, NGOs and Government entities planning events to submit their dates for the calendar to events@shta.com before November 1st 2024. As always, island residents can reserve free copies via the same e-mail address.
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