Over the weekend, Dr. Lilamani swaps her white coat for lace, beads and printed fabric interwoven with delicate thread work; her sketchbook replaces her stethoscope and the General Physician swiftly slips into her role as a fashion designer. While medicine and fashion hardly ever rub shoulders together, Dr Lilamani Wijayaratna is the exception to the rule. A General Physician with two surgeries in South Harrow and Eastcote, she balances her role as a doctor and designer effortlessly.
“My first love was medicine,” she says, recalling that her desire to be a doctor went deep in her childhood. Laughingly Lilamani reminisces that playing ‘hospital’ usually involved a makeshift operating table (two chairs put together), anything that looked remotely like an injection and reluctant (but surprisingly passive) ‘patients’ who put up with ‘injection time’.
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| Dr Lilamani Wijayaratna |
Strong influence: Lilamani with
her mother Sushila |
While her desire to be a doctor was present right throughout, style too was a central part of her life while growing up. Hailing from a creative family - with her father Donald Wijayaratna being the owner of the prominent Donald’s Studios and her artistically inclined mother Sushila, who she emphasizes, was “the wind beneath my wings” – Lilamani affirms that her parent’s creative genes influenced her in more ways than one.
“From the time we were kids, my mum made sure we were dressed impeccably. Fashion was always there, side by side,” she explains. Elaborating that as holidays in Nuwara Eliya would involve the meticulous planning of coats, hats and boots to match and with haircuts inspired by Ingrid Bergman and Rita Hayworth, her mother’s efforts nurtured her love for fashion.
Having broken into the fashion world in 1990, held an assortment of fashion shows and established her own store ‘Style Studio’, Lilamani is now gearing to expand, re-launch her store as well as launch her label, ‘Lilzing’ later this year. Her upcoming fashion show will be “one of a kind” she promises and she hopes to take it to UK, Los Angeles, Australia and Canada.
And how does the life of a doctor cum designer balance out? “I work from Monday to Friday. I don’t work weekends, so I have enough time over the weekends,” she explains.
Her enthusiasm for fashion seeps into her medical life as well. “Every morning, one of the joys of going to work is dressing,” she laughs, “all of my patients, (some of my patients are in my 80’s or 90’s) come to me and tell me, ‘doctor, I came to see what you’re wearing today’.
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| Models display Lilamani’s elegant sarees |
Inspirations for her designs are derived from the most unexpected and seemingly commonplace sources - whether, it’s a person walking on the street, animals, colours or looking out of the window. Says Lilamani: “I leave a book by my bed; if I see something or if an idea comes to my head, I take the book and I sketch it. Any idea that comes to my head I jot it down or if there are any colours that I think will blend together, I write it down and I put it all together at the end of it. And when I plan a show - I plan it in segments.”
Gracefully attired in muted cream hues, she maintains that “Elegance is the most important thing in an outfit.” Her outfit, which incidentally is designed by her is assembled with fabric and accessories from India, England and Bangkok, and bears testament to her sense of style and occasion.
While making her presence felt in fashion circles, Lilamani intends to give back to Sri Lanka and get involved in sustainable welfare work. “I want to launch this store and I’m not taking any money for myself,” she says. “I want to give 100% of its proceeds - whatever I sell or make out of it – to charity to fund feasible projects in difficult areas.”
She smilingly confesses that her philosophy in life is simple: “I always wanted an uncomplicated and happy life. But I follow a few rules - I want to be productive and of service to fellow human beings. I believe in keeping my faith and enjoy my life to the maximum.” |
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