Design fusion

It would probably not be wrong to say that each of us has something we are good at which can range from cooking, to organising events, to painting, to sewing… And a young girl who really does seem to have a flair for doing what she loves is Nishika Samaratunga (15), and her forte is designing clothes!

Currently an O'Level student at Stafford International School and studying in the Commerce stream, she says it all probably started around the age of three when she started learning to paint with Lathifa Ismail, who has "been my guru," she said lovingly, adding that she helped her to develop her own style.

"I liked drawing figures," Nishika said, adding that she also liked drawing women and clothes, with it developing into designing clothes. She went on to say, that she has not had any formal training in the area. Nishika has achieved quite a lot at a young age, of which being runner-up at the Fashion Designer of the Year 2005, was probably her stepping stone to the future in terms of fashion designing.

She was just 13-years-old when she came across the advertisement in the newspapers for the contest. "I sent in four designs and was called for the semis," she went on to say that the competition was quite stiff and that there were 60 semi finalists.

After being cross-questioned by the panel of judges, she was called in for the finals and it was quite tough she said, because she was so young, and to top it all off every single designer had been qualified in fashion designing is some way or the other. Nishika hand-painted the tops, shoes and accessories, and also pasted sequins on her designs, and she feels that being able to do such intricate work will be useful to her in future as well.

"My favourite colour is blue," Nishika said, and uses a lot of blues and greens in her designs. As for inspiration, she said, "anything inspires me." She went on to say "I need to come up with the theme when designing," which is the tough part but once that is done the rest, she said is pretty much quite easy. She finds the clothes designed by Elie Saab and Versace, "really beautiful," adding that they really compliment the female body.

Young Nishika has a lot on mind, out of which she says, "I'm trying to develop a style - 'fusion,'" In fact for the Fashion Designer of the Year 2005 contest, she said she blended the East wit the West by designing a gujrati saree with a dress. What she feels is that it is not necessary to separate the East and the West adding that she believes the "saree would look really good incorporated into western wear." The designs for evening wear were inspired by the sun, moon, night sky and a cloud. Using soft, knit and simple outfits, the casual wear was inspired by fire, wind, water and earth. To bring out the true essence of the idea of water Nishika had hand-painted the clothes herself. And the sarees were all inspired by flowers and leaves and were hand-painted as well.

Nishika wears her designs at times, like for her shows and what she likes best is designing evening and casual wear. One of the other shows she participated in was in Fashion Statement 2006 where the award winning designs from the Designer of the Year 2005 contest were modelled on the catwalk.

Among the local designers she says admires Lou-Ching Wong as "his designs are creative" and also Yolande Aluvihare because "I like the way she hand paints her clothes, and the colours and materials she uses," she said, adding that the clothes are very "elegant."

Aapart from designing, she also loves to paint but isn't been doing massive canvases at the moment. "What people don't realise is that it's a lot of work and my mom's been really supportive," and in terms of school, she said, "school is fine with it - as long as I'm focussed."

Looking at the future, "I want to get a degree in fashion designing after my A'Levels," she said, adding, "I want to get some formal training." Her main objective though is to study law but to still continue fashion designing."I want to have my own label," she said, and "I was it to be personal," adding, "I don't want people to be slaves to fashion when wearing my clothes." She said the key is to make sure that the clothes are made with the personality of the client kept in mind, adding, "you can't look good in something, if you can't feel good in it," she said.

For any of you hopeful fashion designers out there, she said, "I'll tell them to be original, not to copy anyone else, not to be a slave to fashion," and "it should be their idea." She also said that you should "never give up no matter what age" you are.