Colombo Fashion Week Day 1 gets underway

Colombo Fashion Week, kicked off its 16th run at showcasing the creative minds of both local and international designers with their ‘Emerging Designer Showcase’ which took place February 27 at Hilton Colombo. 

Mentored and guided by senior fashion designers KT Brown’s Kanchana Thalpawila, Creative Director of Buddhi Batiks Darshi Keerthisena and Founder of U Upeksha Hager, Day 1 of Colombo Fashion Week created a runway for high potential fashion designers of Sri Lanka.

The senior designers judged the 11 fashion designers, who they had been training since February 15, for the prestigious NEXT award that is to be awarded on the last day of CFW, March 2.

Himashi Wijeweera opened the showcase with her collection of evening wear heavily worked and inspired buy Beeralu lace. With her simple silhouettes and soft colour palette the delicate lace interweaved in her collection was more pronounced.

Heavily influenced by Japanese streetwear Manasha Silva’s designs brought in an electric energy to the ramp with her striking use of orange accents in her clothing. Bridging a gap between the old and new, Silva used digital manipulation in her wear to add texture to her designs.

Recreated for the modern woman was Shehana Dayananda’s incentive when designing her pieces for the runway. Influenced by the 90’s era of fashion, she creates an edgier evolved look to fit the age of now.

‘Is this yours?’ was the question Marlon Rae left the audiences with as his voluminous, fluid collection inspired by the sea and what it washed up ashore. With attention to detail as he had also fashioned jewellery for the models with plastic bottles.

Simple, overlapped and lightweight are the words used to describe Nilusha Muddumage. Rejecting cultural and social circumstances that cause stereotypes, she uses silhouettes that are functional and asymmetrical to create easy movement and flow.

Nadeeshani Ratnayaka used her love for architecture in her silhouettes that are both structural and fluid with façade textures. Adding a creative element to her collection, she used a Japanese stitching technique Sashiko in her pieces.

Achala Lee Koh captivated audiences with her take on ‘life and beauty in all its delicate stages.’  A simple assemblage using tie-dyed fabrics, her designs collectively formed a picture of a sunset on the beach. 

Inspired by the Jack Sparrow centric franchise, Ayesh Wickramarathne manipulated denim to his liking by having it stretched, washed and cut to give a compilation of clothing ready for a long voyage on sea.

Giving homage to Sri Lankan culture and history Ridma Samaranayake incorporated Beeralu lace and conservative Kandyan styles into her patterns that portrayed a juxtaposition of traditional art and craft with recent fashion.

Shimalka Bodaragama played around with Flamenco ruffles, off the shoulder necklines to transport audiences to a 1920-1950 Spain. The solid colour palettes of mustard yellow, olive green and maroon took us to a whimsical Barcelona.

Udarika Dalugama emphasizes on gender equality as she uses her contemporary, unisex designer wear to blur the lines of menswear and womenswear. Her conceptual collection focused on lapels, backless, printed pieces.

To keep up with the excitement follow Colombo Fashion week on their social platforms Facebook: www.facebook.com/hsbccolombofashionweek, Instagram: @colombofashionweek and their official website: www.colombofashionweek.com