Arts
All set for their ‘coming out party’
View(s):
Every year, the Emerging Designers Runway of the Sri Lanka Design Festival showcases the talent of the young designers graduating from the Academy of Design. Described as the ‘coming out party of design’ it is a much-awaited event. The Sunday Times Magazine caught up with three of the young designers who will present their collections at the show on November 6 at the Sri Lanka Exhibition and Convention Centre ( SLECC).This year’s graduating batch has 40 students and all of them will show their designs at the fashion show which will also be live streamed through the website mbsrilankafashionrunways.com and the Facebook page Mercedes-Benz Fashion Runways.
Each student has spent almost the past year designing five looks for a final assessment for their degree from the University of Northumbria, each of which will be presented at the show. While there is no hard and fast rule on how one designs a collection, the designs are based on research and ideas which inspire them.
Sometimes it isn’t difficult to see where their inspiration comes from. Thamali Dharmawardena whose collection features Sportswear has been an ardent sportswoman since she was in school – at Ladies College. Her garments are functional because she knows what sportsmen and women need from their clothes. “I am a sportswoman myself who is into kickboxing and running so I wore the garments and saw whether they met the requirements,” she says.
Inspired by the Vikings,Thamali remarks that the Viking association while not obvious is there in the details. “I have used colours which are associated with the Vikings. For example, most of my designs use blue, symbolic of the seas the Vikings sailed,” she says. Interesting too is her choice of fabric – waterproof handloom which neither looks nor feels like ordinary handloom.
Ambitious projects seem to be a common theme for the batch. Sneha Moorjani’s Men’s winter wear designs have drawn from the Second World War, the Soviet Army to be precise and are inspired by the lack of touch which soldiers experience on the battlefield. “When soldiers are on the battlefield they are away from everyone they love; they aren’t hugged or shown affection by anyone. I made my garments soft so that it’s like a hug, it’s soft and warm and comforting,” she says, adding that sometimes a hug can go a long way for a person – enabling them to conquer insurmountable odds. Her designs are in line with the recent awareness on mental health.
She is an ‘international achcharu’ says Sneha because her parents have Moroccan and Sri Lankan Sindhi heritage. In her case, breaking away from the family business has both challenged and motivated her. “It has made me work very hard to prove myself to my family,” she says.
Sneha
A past pupil of Musaeus College who spent two years studying Economics before she decided to switch to fashion, 24-year-old Umanga Kulasekara is working on Artisanal Women’s Wear. She feels that the three years spent studying design have helped her realize her potential. Her work is inspired by the tribes of American Indians and Africans; her garments use vibrant tribal colours along with the furry, frilly designs of the tribes.
While most of her garments are in handloom, finding the right weave was quite difficult, she says. “I travelled to Gampaha but didn’t like the weave so I then travelled to Dumbara and found a weave close to what I wanted so I worked with them until I was happy that I had achieved a design I wanted,” she says.
For now most of the batch are working round the clock to complete their collections in time for the big show. “We have had no life for the past 10 months because we kept going to Pettah and Pamunuwa to get the correct threads etc. and then the week is spent working on the designs,” she says.
While the designers whose work is in line with the local textile industry have found sponsors, others whose work which is of a lesser retail value must bear the cost on their own. “Our parents are our sponsors,” laughs Umanga, adding that sometimes she feels that the names of the parents who sponsor their children’s work ought to go up with the list of their peers’ sponsors from the industry.
“Last year’s batch set the bar very high and we need to either beat that or at least match up,” says Umanga, as Sneha and Thamali nod in agreement. Their Principal at AoD concurs. “This show is the future of design in Sri Lanka. This year we’ve got a diverse and eclectic mix of designers who have really pushed the boundaries and have thought about the influences of the country from handloom to batik and all the technical sides of combining high-tech and low-tech craftsmanship together and really taking it to another level with their own personal and unique style,” says Karen McLeod, confident that her students will prove that the future of fashion is in able hands.
There is a lot at stake they know. The best designer from the graduating batch is sent to take part in the International Catwalk of the London Graduate Fashion Week. Last year, Amesh Wijesekara did Sri Lanka proud winning the International Catwalk award at the event.
Thamali
Umanga
K.F.