The exponential growth of HSBC Colombo Fashion Week

HSBC Colombo Fashion Week Resort Wear Show (RWCFW) 2013 is to be held on the 5th and 6th of October 2013 at Galle. RWCFW, the widely acclaimedbrain child of Ajai Vir Singh has been in the limelight in the recent past, however Ajai pointed out that it was not like this in the past. His vision, a powerful driver, which led to the mass expansion of the current industry of fashion in Sri Lanka, truly should be commended as it has also redefined the standards of the South Asian Fashion Industry.

The inception of Colombo Fashion Week dates ten years back to 2003, which began after Ajai realized that the art of Fashion was comparatively underestimated and unappreciated in comparison to the fields of art, such as Architecture, woodcraft and so on.And so, this began his journey of providing Sri Lanka a deeper understanding in the fashion industry.

With this idea in mind, he hoped to make Sri Lanka known for its fashion industry,and not only for the contribution it makes to the apparel industry. Hence the launch of the Colombo Fashion Week occurred in the year 2003 with merely three designers at his dispense; which he stated was a great feat as there weren't any fashion designers per se in Sri Lanka at that time.

With the introduction of the talent like DarshiKeerthisena (Owner of Buddhi Batiks) from CFW 2007 and KanchanaThalpawila (Owner of KT Brown) from CFW 2009 it can be seen that Ajai's efforts to "create" a fashion industry in Sri Lanka has truly come into being. His long term vision has not decided to end at merely creating a Fashion Industry in Sri Lanka, but now he has shifted it towards "uplifting" the fashion industry. Hence, the resort wear show which began last year, exploits the unique climatic conditions we face and helps young designers to showcase that their talent is not merely restricted to the Conventional Fashion Industry. This second season in itself is an authentic concept as it is "breaking the format of how it is done", as stated by Ajai, as it is will be showcased in the environment it is meant for, in contrast to London Fashion Week or New York Fashion Week.

This invite-only show has t16 shortlisted designers showcasing their talent in Galle, where Ray Ban by "Vision Care Optical Services (Pvt.) Ltd" hopes to compliment Ajai's efforts in making CFW the back bone of Sri Lanka's fashion industry.