Fashion Week @15 adds a new note
HSBC Colombo Fashion Week has contributed immensely to the growth and expansion of the Sri Lankan fashion industry by providing local designers with a solid platform as well as international exposure. “90% of designers we see in Sri Lanka are a product of Colombo Fashion Week’s design development system,” AjaiVir Singh, Founder and President of Colombo Fashion Week (CFW) told a press conference held at the Colombo Hilton last week announcing the launch of its 15th edition.
Scheduled to take place from March 19 - 25 at the Colombo Hilton the HSBC Colombo Fashion Week will see an exciting collaboration between fashion, design and art, film, food, and music. In addition, there will be knowledge workshops, a focus on ethical fashion and emerging designer showcases. More than 30 designers will be taking part in this edition of HSBC Colombo Fashion Week.
The designer line-up features both local and international talent and includes many familiar names. Bibi Russell, Eymeric Francois, Urvashi Kaur and Tarun Tahiliani are the visiting designers while from Sri Lanka, we will see Darshi Keerthisena, Upeksha Hager, Charini Suriyage, Maus, Dimuthu Sahabandu, Conscience, Meraki, Sonali Dharmawardena, Fouzul Hameed, Jaishree, Amilani Perera, Catherine Rawson, Lovi Ceylon, Nilanka Silva, Aslam Hussein, Indeevari Yapa Abeyagunawardene and Gihan Ediriweera among those presenting their collections.
The Responsible Fashion Summit, will take place on Monday, March 19. The Responsible Fashion movement is a value system founded on the basis of the CEW founder’s wish for fashion-for-good, or good fashion. A panel of local and international experts will look at various aspects of the subject.
Knowledge Workshops by the industry’s most sought after exports are conducted to enhance the knowledge of young designers. This year a workshop on ‘Fashion and Lifestyle in Social Media and Blogging’, by Indian blogger and photographer Naina Redhu will take place on March 21.
Food and fashion are a complementary pairing and HSBC CFW’s food extravganza takes its inspiration from the fashion weeks of the world: London, New York, Tokyo, Milan and Paris. The Hilton’s LAB, Ikoi Tei and Il Ponte, Cafe Francais and Uga Residence tie up with the HSBC CFW to create ‘fashion capital menus’ offering a gourmet feast all week.
This year’s HSBC Colombo Fashion Week is also launching new creative initiatives. The Music Design initiative sees independent artists Naomi Wijemanne, Julius Mitchell and Sankha B creating original tracts for selected designers. The launch of ‘Music designed’ will be on March 19 at the Sooriya Village.
Previous creative elements such as ‘Art Connect’ which brings together art and fashion, this year under the theme, ‘co-liberate’ will also be featured as artists gather inspiration from the designers for their art. ‘Art Connect’ will be open to the public on March 20 at Laksala Fort with young artists Pala Pothupitiya, Mahen Perera. Sujeewa Kumari, Pradeep Chandrasiri, Koralagedhara Pushpakumara and Kavan Balasuriya’s work on display.
The Fashion Film Initiative, which is a collaboration between film directors and designers will also take place during CFW. 1-Minute-Fashion-Films shot on smartphones feature the designers’ development of concepts and ideas that inspired their works. The goal is to bring the designers’inspirations to life through film.
Wrapping up a packed programme, the Emerging Designer Showcase will see 12 selected designers present their collections on the ramp on March 25.
The HSBC Colombo Fashion Week aims to showcase Colombo as a hub of tourism and as a city that is vibrant and creative, and this is echoed in its theme - “Celebrate Colombo”. The HSBC Colombo Fashion Week has atracted foreign visitors in the past and Ajai Vir Singh believes it is a perfect event platform for tourists and visitors to the city to enjoy, moreover completely ready to be offered as a tourism product.
“It’s a good milestone for the fashion design industry of Sri Lanka, by God’s grace and support of all the stakeholders we have consistently climbed the steps. Today when we look back, the humble step that was taken in 2003 has created and revived the fashion design industry of Sri Lanka, it has built pride in Sri Lankan labels, opened the way for young Sri Lankans to become designers and created commerce,” said Ajai – looking forward to the next 15 years.