The bright, colourful and flowery Cheeththa material is the definition of unfashionable. Well, that’s just here in Sri Lanka. On the catwalks of France, would you believe models are strutting in traditional Sri Lankan cheeththa? It’s becoming quite the fad.
Reinventing cheeththa, by creating hip fashionable designs, Deneth Piumakshi—an artist cum designer and an erstwhile art curator, feels the city slickers shirk away from the material allowing their prejudice to blind them from the uniquely vibrant material. She’s got to be on to something there; seeing that her collection was a hit in Delhi two years back.
“I want to tell people it’s not godday,” says Deneth, exclaiming “it’s the coolest textile on the earth; I love it!” According to her Sri Lankans need to open their mind and be more imaginative and appreciative of the things around them.
“They (Sri Lankans) are always running after these big designers. They don’t realise that we have this bright colourful material. It’s cotton and it’s available all over Sri Lanka- so why don’t we wear it? In universities during the rag period they ask girls to wear the cheeththa gown, I think it’s cool but the girls whisper ‘oooh, lajjai’, she says acting the part of an embarrassed university student. “I’m like what? I’ll wear it everyday.”
Primarily the material worn by village women and children and so cheeththa unduly received its label. But with Deneth’s expressive and contemporary designs that might soon change.
So where was Deneth’s love for cheeththa founded? Way back when she was a toddler in her hometown of Kurunegala. “I grew up with it”, she shares. “I played with it, dressing up little dolls , we plaited our hair with different coloured cheeththa.”
Then she got serious about painting. “When I started painting I always hated painting on a canvas, I always wanted to not to be like my dad (a popular artist in the 90’s Munasinghe Weetharachchige; better known as Muné) because he always painted on canvas. So I was looking for material so then I thought why not paint on Cheeththa?”
The the challenege, according to Deneth, is finding space on the material to paint.” I found it very challenging because there are already so many different colours and patterns, no space to breathe.
“Sometimes I have to stare at the material for days to think of what colour I should use to bring out what I see. Sometimes the colours will be like this. So this is how I started painting.”
Another startling discovery that even though the material is unique to Sri Lanka is not made here. “It’s Chinese. The Chinese make it and send it to Sri Lanka.
But the interesting thing is there’s no cheeththa in China,” laughs the young artist. So that sorts out why she chose cheeththa but how did she become a designer having been an artist?
“When I was growing up we’d never buy clothes. My mom would make us clothes, frocks and we were happy with that,”shares Deneth. “Also when shopping it’s very difficult to find my size.
Always kiddies corner for me- boring stuff. So I thought I’d make my own clothes. And people started commenting and asking me why I don’t design”. She gradually went on to design clothes for her friends and before she knew it, she was showcasing her work in Delhi.
Last year, was the first time her designs took to local fashion ramps, when a friend of hers invited Deneth to exhibit a collection at her show- Elegance.
Deneth’s designs can be found at Melache on Duplication road. Pop in when you have sometime; be a part of the cheeththa revolution. |
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