Sunday Times 2
World class fashion
For Sonali Dharmawardena, the Sri Lankan designer and batik artist behind the Acushla label, designing the evening wear for the Ms. England for Miss Universe 2015 pageant contestants was a milestone in her career as it gave her the rare opportunity to showcase her beautiful batik creations on an international platform.
Seeing the 15 semi-finalists of the Miss England pageant, held in August on the ramp, in beautiful batik wrap around skirts and stretch fabric body suits that she had designed for the evening wear segment, made her feel proud. More than seeing it as a personal accomplishment, Sonali was overjoyed at being able to place Sri Lanka in the limelight.
“I believe it is the first time that a local designer had been chosen to design for contestants of another country,” she said during a recent press conference. Sharing her story with others, was not for her to feel special, but as it would become important for someone else to progress, and for people in Sri Lanka to understand the need to support talented ‘fresh blood in a non biased way’ in order to motivate them.
“I was faced with many challenges when I started doing batik, but I was lucky there were a few people who were very supportive of me. But I have seen many newcomers struggle as Colombo takes a long time to value what is best,” she explains adding that it is the very reason why she invited individuals like Ramani Fernando, Yehali Sangakkara and Angeline Ondaatje to participate at her press conference as they had always supported her by wearing her brand from the time when Sonali ventured out as an designer/artist, nine years ago.
Speaking about her experience at the Miss England pageant, Sonali says she got no specific concept to work on, but only the measurements of the 60 contestants. Since each contestant’s body size is different, she thought it would be best to work around an average size, and a design that suits all body shapes, she explains.
Adding that the feedback received from the audience was simply overwhelming, Sonali says that she even had to go before the audience during the show to speak about her collection. She had touched on batik as a heritage art, the technique exclusive to Sri Lanka as well as how it has ventured into world class fashion standards and this was an opportunity to make the audience understand that Sri Lanka is so much more than just a small island.
Speaking of her label, Sonali says it is mainly about the individual and she uses batik in a modern way to create exclusive pieces for her clients.”As a designer it is important to re-invent, to do something individual. That is what makes it unique and that is what I always strive for,” she added.