South Asia's premier fashion show HSBC Colombo Fashion Week, will take place in Colombo from 3rd – 5thApril 2013. This year the Colombo Fashion Week ,which has been the backbone of Sri Lanka's fashion design industry for the past decade, will pay tribute to the next generation of designers, saluting them, supporting them, and also paying tribute to their mentors.
In honor of its decade-long commitment to supporting the fashion industry, HSBC CFW will also debut some of the talent from Sri Lanka and around the world. This selection is finalized by a meticulous selection process and mentored by industry experts that include internationally acclaimed designers such as Agatha Ruiz de La Prada, Bibi Russell and Rizwan Beyg.
Ajai Vir Singh of the Great Colombo Fashion Company (TGCFC), is the brainchild of this event. He speaks to the Daily Mirror about the upcoming Colombo Fashion Week.
How and when did Colombo Fashion Week get started?.jpg)
Colombo Fashion Week started ten years ago. After years of hard work, when we look at the effort we have put in, we now see it run like a ‘fashion week’ with high standards while impacting the Sri Lankan fashion design industry.
At its inception the fashion design industry was stagnant. Today it’s a development platform, for Sri Lankan designers, established and new, to showcase their designs and come up in life. Colombo Fashion Week has also impacted fashion retail in Sri Lanka, with stores carrying more and more fashion collections, from designers who showcase at CFW.
Now the industry has developed so much that there are so many design schools, which offer degrees from various foreign universities, giving an opportunity for our designers to qualify without even going abroad.
I must also thank my partners Prasad Bidapa and Dirk Flamer Caldera who are a part of this journey, supporting me.
What is the theme for the HSBC Colombo Fashion Week 2013?
We want to pay tribute to the colour Indigo and fabric Seersucker this year, both iconic in terms of the fashion design industry. Indigo is the colour of the year for 2013. It is a deep midnight blue, a combination of deep blue and violet and holds the attributes of both these colors.
It is traditionally considered one of seven colors of the rainbow. The first recorded use of Indigo as a colour name in English, was in 1289. India is believed to be the oldest centers of Indigo dyeing in the Old World.
Seersucker is a material that originated from our part of the world, although it’s very popular globally. During the 18th century , in the villages of India this material was weaved, with a texture of both rough and smooth. In Hindi this fabric was called Sheer or shakar. ‘Sheer’, meaning honey and ‘Shakar’ meaning sugar, because of its rough and smooth texture. The Europeans not able to pronounce this started calling it Seersucker. Hence the name Seersucker remained the same through the centuries.
Who are the designers that have made a name in the industry in the past?
Youlande Aluwihare was one of the first designers we picked and she has consistently kept up her good work even until now. Dharshi Keerthisena was the product of CFW 2007, followed by Middle Finger, Kanchana and Charini. Then Upeksha, Sonali, Kur etc. Two years ago we started the ‘P&G Gen-Next’ award and Dimuthu Sahabandu was the first to win it in 2011, and thereafter he got the opportunity to showcase at the high profile IPL shows. Last year Dineth from Kurunegala, won the ‘P&G Gen-Next’ award, straight after that, she was picked to be based at Paris for six months.
What are your predictions for this year?
This time around, there will be many surprises at the Colombo Fashion show. There are 4 new and exciting designers, in addition to the other talented Sri Lankan designers, who will also show case their latest collections. This is another step forward for the industry.
Internationally, where do we stand in the Fashion Industry?
When it comes to Fashion weeks, there is the traditional big four, Paris, New York, London and Milan, they are the biggest driver of global fashion. However a new and exciting category of second generation of Fashion weeks have emerged which includes Barcelona, Madrid, Tokyo, Sydney, Berlin etc.
These fashion weeks are instrumental in developing the fashion industries of their respective countries and creating international opportunities. At various forums, international designers who have participated at CFW have endorsed it as the second generation of the fashion weeks, in the same group as above, for the work we have been able to do, which I think is a great achievement for us.
We have reciprocal MOUs with Mercedes Benz Russia Fashion Week, Miami Fashion Week, Dubai, Karachi and Malaysia. We are in the process of signing up with another European fashion week as well. This will give a selected talented Sri Lankan designer, a main platform to show at the fashion weeks mentioned above.
Has Colombo Fashion Week been a successful venture?
The nature of HSBC Colombo Fashion Week is developmental hence every aspect is carefully thought through to impact, promote and uplift Sri Lanka’s fashion design industry and its designers. Our company The Great Colombo Fashion Co does a lot of work in the field of fashion to promote fashion designers, fashion retail and based on this work CFW has proved itself to be the backbone of Sri Lanka’s fashion design industry.
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