HSBC Colombo Fashion Week, building the next generation of Sri Lankan designers

HSBC Colombo Fashion Week has witnessed an increasing number of designers who approach it annually with the intent of launching their career in fashion using it as their platform of choice, a release from the organisrs said .

Over 90% of both established and up-and-coming designers in the country today commenced their journey in fashion with Colombo Fashion Week. This is a testament to the platform’s authenticity and commitment to engender a self-sustainable infrastructure for emerging designers.

This year twelve young designers will be showcasing their talent at CFW. Among them, will be the launch collections of Himashi Wijeweera, Maddumage Nilusha, Achala Lee Koh, Nadeeshani Ratnayake and Rebecca Silva.

In addition, there will be collections by designers who previously launched and showcased at Colombo Fashion Week Emerging Designer Showcase: Vathsala Gunasekera and Anushika Perera, who are showcasing for the third time, along with Poorni Wijesinghe, Dinushi Pamunuwa, Yathra Jayawardene, Marlon Rae, and Nayani Fernando. Each Emerging Designer who will be showcasing has been carefully mentored and guided through the creative process by the CFW team to help them hone their skills prior to producing each of their runway-ready collections for CFW Summer.

Aside from being presented with the opportunity to understand the intricacies of how one of the four main fashion events in Asia function, the designers are enriched with the know-how on fine-tuning their respective brands and collections to better appeal to an audience comprising of established designers, editors, buyers and influencers, both on and off the runway and particularly in terms of fashion retail.

Many of the emerging designers have undergone extensive training under the Project 7 programme led by Ajai Vir Singh that has significantly helped strengthen the ideation process of each participant leading to strong point-of-view development. This specialised programme entails a series of workshops that provides participants with practical steps that fuel creativity and ideation from a new perspective.

This season of Colombo Fashion Week will conclude with the Emerging Designers’ Showcase on the 25th of March at the Hilton Colombo.

CFW’s title partner HSBC supported the development of the local fashion design industry by supporting this development-focused program. The Hilton Colombo, CFW’s hospitality partner, has displayed great interest in designer development over the years, extending their support towards CFW making their partnership with CFW a befitting one.