by Jeroslyn JoVonn
January 14, 2025
St. Croix native Wayne James unveiled a brand new line of gender-neutral fragrances.
St. Croix-native dressmaker Wayne James launched three gender-neutral fragrances final month on the historic Bougainvillea Perfumery in his homeland.
On Dec. 30, James launched three gender-neutral eau de toilettes—“Rebel,” “Freedom,” and “Celebration”—including to his spectacular portfolio of creations that started in his youth, St Thomas Supply reviews. The fragrances function notes of lime, sandalwood, ginger, nutmeg, ardour fruit, grapefruit, sugar plums, wooden, and different fragrant oils.
They replicate his resilience as a designer, overcoming the challenges he confronted after shedding his eyesight resulting from mistreatment throughout a 30-month jail sentence. James was elected to the Virgin Islands Legislature in 2008, serving for 2 years. Nonetheless, in 2018, he was discovered responsible of wire fraud and the theft of federal program funds totaling nearly $90,000 whereas within the Senate.
He was sentenced to 30 months in jail, which he served. Nonetheless, whereas incarcerated in Pensacola, Florida, jail officers uncared for to supply the glaucoma treatment James had requested, and by 2020, he had misplaced his sight. After a lifetime of counting on his imaginative and prescient for his work, he now relies on his sense of scent, which performed a vital position in inspiring his new fragrances.
In 2010, whereas a senator, James met Patrick Bodifee, a famend “nostril” within the fragrance trade, on the Cannes Movie Competition. This encounter is credited with inspiring his three new fragrances. Design has come simply to James, who comes from an extended line of seamstresses.
He honed his craft at St. Joseph’s College in highschool and additional developed his abilities whereas finding out at Bradley College. By his remaining 12 months at Georgetown Legislation Heart, he had already begun constructing his enterprise, Wayne James Ltd.
“I confirmed my first assortment on March 30, 1987, on the Anita Shapolsky Gallery at 99 Spring Avenue in SoHo,” he recalled of his New York debut, which led to promoting his first assortment to Bergdorf Goodman. Through the years, his designs have been featured in prestigious shops worldwide, together with Nordstrom, Victoire in Paris, and Saks Jandel in Washington, D.C.
After working in politics and serving his time in jail, James is again to creating and plans to launch his fragrances globally. Subsequent month, on Feb. 15, James will launch www.WayneJamesLtd.com, the place customers should buy a leather-based carry-on, an expensive bathrobe, a leather-based scarf, Manley Man (three volumes), the Historical past of St. Croix Delicacies, and different upscale gadgets developed during the last 20 years. He’s additionally ending up a actuality collection for YouTube.
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