Words: Tina Edward Gunawardhana
Sri Lanka’s fashion community was in for a treat when the 20th anniversary edition of Colombo Fashion week took place recently. The celebratory season began with a special preview by two designers held at the Mayor’s Residence, an imposing colonial structure which provided a formidable backdrop. The show then moved to the Shangri-La where 28 Sri Lankan and international designer showcased their collections. This year the theme of CFW was inclusivity and it was heartening to see plus size models on the runway. Founded two decades ago by Ajai Vir Singh, CFW provides a platform for many Sri Lankan designers to showcase their collections. Aided by CFW CEO Fazeena Rajabdeen along with CFW Director Prasad Bidapa, this year’s show brought together many designers onto one platform to showcase Sri Lanka’s design talent.
Rizwan Beyg
Pakistani designer Rizwan Beyg, presented a collection in varying shades of white. Frills, ruffles and straps lent the collection a flirty feel. He also showcased a collection of accessories of bags and belts. It had great commercial appeal and was similar to silhouettes which you could get a lot of in our local stores.
Harinda Gunawardena
Harinda Gunawardene, a young designer who has graduated from CFW’s stable of young design talent keeps improving season by season. His collection of batik prints were dramatic both in design and colour combinations.
Fouzul Hameed
Hameedia celebrates its 75th anniversary in the Sri Lankan menswear industry this year and it was indeed refreshing to see Mikhail Hameed, the next generation of the Hameed dynasty present his collection of menswear which was youthful and sharp and will certainly grab the attention of the next gen.
Dimuthu Sahabandu
Dimuthu Sahabandu is a diminutive designer who is just packed with talent. From the way he re-engineers fabric to give it new dimension, he also displays intelligence in fashion. Fashion can be used as a powerful tool to make a social commentary or to convey a message and that is what Sahabandu’s collection did. His collection attempted to showcase that light rises from a dark pond, in this case a nation brought to its knees through corruption but eventually hope springs eternal. His clever use of embellishments conveyed a subtle but sublime social statement. The irony of the red beaded shawl was such a stroke of brilliance, including the skirt with hand painted and embroidered images of clenched fists rising up in solidarity. He brought drama to the runway in the most subtle but powerful way.
Asanka De Mel
Lovi Ceylon continues to make strides in creating a sarong evolution with each season. This collection had great appeal with its mix of casual and ceremonial garb. Top marks for using cargo pockets on the shirts.
Darshi Keerthisena
Darshi Keerthisena yet again staked her claim as Sri Lanka’s leading exponent of the artisanal craft of batik. Her collection of fabulous batik prints evoked a happy buoyant feeling with a brilliant and well thought out colour palette. Her pairing of colours is unique. Her constantly evolving batik prints and silhouettes from saris to dresses are proof that she is not a one trick pony.
I can’t wait to see what else she has up her sleeve!
Akash Paranavithana
Akash Paranavithana is a designer who keeps upping the ante each season. He is one who thinks out of the box and this collection had an edgy look, complemented with the use of visible zips, embroidery and chains.
Suneet Varma
Suneet Varma showcased a pret collection in rich reds and blacks interspersed with the use of heavily embroidered fabrics. His collection had everything from fringe to bling and conveyed a sense of style and luxury.
Sonali Darmavardana
Sonali Dharmawardene is a whizz with a brush and palette and her fortitude as a batik artist is admirable. Her mainly monochrome collection took me down memorylane with the polka dots, stripes and brushwork which we had seen in her previous work. Her use of delicate French embroidery on the womenswear and the contrast lining in the menswear worked well.
Dinushi Pamunuwa
Dinushi Pamunuwa is a batik designer who has showed promise with her previous collections. Departing from her signature style of abstract prints, in this collection she uses typography from the islandâs trilingual alphabets. This fad has been seen before and made the collection rather staid. It lacked her customary wow factor.
House of INDI
Indi Yapa Abeywardene presented a collection of almost 30 outfits which were full of bling. Her saree blouses were daring to say the least. Her use of brightyellow and green added a pop of colour to her collection of mainly ethnic wear.
Divya Ninety
Divya Jayawickrama with each season shows maturity while developing her own unique fashion identity. Her black and white silhouettes with the Dumbara weave were delightful. Her menswear had a laidback cool island vibe while the blazers had a real vintage look which alluded sophistication.
Chupa Chups
Chupa Chups by Sharmila Ruberu saw the designer working to a tight brief set by the company headquartered in Denmark. Harking back to our childhood, the outlandish collection tinged with whimsy embodied the fun, playful, colourful and bubbly ethos of the popular lollipop.
Agra (Nilusha Maddumage)
Tarun Tahilliani
Tarun Tahiliani aka The King of Drapes showcased a collection which was sheer drama. His collection added glamour and embodied his unique take on timeless drapes created with beautiful hand embellished fabrics created by artisans with fine craftsmanship.
Shehani Guruge
Shehani Gurugeâs collection of 2D and 3D fabric manipulations denoted the empowerment of women cancer survivors to embrace their imperfect bodies post surgery. The fabric she had used was unforgiving, so the slightest imperfection was magnified. Her collection comprised ruffled dresses in lively and youthful colours.
Rochelle Tissera
Rochelle Tissera provided an interesting take on ethnic wear, especially with her trouser sari.
Charini
Charini Suriyage took a leap out of her comfort zone of her signature style of drapes and presented a collection of dresses and separates that highlighted the feminine form while keeping to her theme of dressing the Boss Woman of today. Refreshingly, this collection also featured pieces for plus size models which saw her follow the showâs theme of inclusivity. This is one collection that could transition from runway to store with ease.
Navindri Ranatunga
Navindri Ranatungaâs zero waste collection was inspired by stained glass windows. Her designs consisted of panels which represented the mosaic glass tiles used in stained glass.
Jaishni Karunaratne
Jaishni Karunaratne showcased a collection inspired by Kandyan and Victorian outfits. It had little commercial appeal.
Hirushi Jayathilaka
Hirushi Jayatilake showed off her trademark flamboyant silhouettes with embroidery in bright rich colours. The collectionâs saving grace was the embroidery.
Gayanth Karunaratne
Gayanath Karunaratne stole the show with one of the best collections of the evening. Simple silhouettes, precise tailoring, luxe looking fabrics and embellishments gave his collection a certain va va voom. He did justice to his theme of celebrating femininity.
Devapriya Halwala
Devapriya Halwalaâs collection was mainly in black. The simple embroidery lenta luxe look to the collection. He played with height and length, adding an element of playfulness to his collection.
Chamanka Hewage
Chamanka Hewage stayed away from prints this year and presented an edgy collection of daring silhouettes which included bodycon dresses that oozed sensuality.
Aysha Faizer
Ayesha Faizerâs collection of black outfits were dramatic and the block printing helped to marginally elevate the collection.
