Mentoring for emerging designers
This season a new mentorship format is created to lead emerging high potential designers in CFW’s Emerging Designer Development Programme. The mentorship panel consists of Kanchana Thalpawila, Darshi Keerthisena and Upeksha Hager who will have mentoring sessions with the emerging designers starting from February 15.
This season will see 10 high potential designers take the ramp. The Emerging Designer Development Programme and the resulting showcase is the engine that supplies designers for the fashion design industry - a key focus of CFW since its inception which has seen the emergence of many exciting young designers.
“Mentorship, guidance, training or any other value addition to a young fashion talent is very important to CFW as an organisation, and this has remained a core to us since inception. It will remain integral in this journey, as this is where we find the ever evolving future of Sri Lanka’s fashion design industry. I am so thankful to Kanchana, Darshi and Upeksha to come forward and lead this important programme,” says Ajai V. Singh, Founder and Managing Director CFW.
“Mentoring is a long process but some effort in that direction by CFW should be admired and we are glad to share our experience with a young group of creative talent which is willing to go through the process to sustain themselves in the business of fashion beyond the glamour and popularity of the world of fashion,” says Kanchana Thalpawila of KT Brown.
“Fashion is an art, and to sustain the art it must succeed as a business too. I look forward to working with the CFW emerging designers to pass on some tips (learned the hard way) on how the design process can be shaped to serve both the art and the commercial side of it,” says Darshi Keerthisena, Creative Director of Buddhi Batiks.
These senior designers will be the panel that will pick one emerging designer for the prestigious “THE NEXT” award.
“I am very excited to be a part of the CFW mentorship programme. I believe in passing it forward and so glad CFW has a space for me. CFW is very much about offering the support new designers might need with guidance in creating a collection that would launch them comfortably to the biggest stage in Sri Lanka. The idea is to allow them to hit the ground running with their businesses” says Upeksha Hager.
Each partner of the Fashion Week is a partner in the vision to create and develop a unique identity for Sri Lanka through the development of the fashion design industry. Title Partner HSBC, Official Hotel Partners Hilton Colombo, Shangri-La Colombo, Galle Face Hotel Colombo, Tresemme, the Official Hair Care Partner, SML Frontier Automative - Jaguar Land Rover, the Luxury Automobile Partner, Vision Care, the Official Eyewear Partner, Serenia Residences the Official Residences Partner, Ramani Fernando the Official Hair and Make-up Partner, Hameedia, Colombo City Walks, Mullen Lowe as the Official PR Partner and Emerging Media as the Outdoor Digital Media Partner.