‘amilani perera’ is a new clothing line to be talking about this year specially with its launch at Colombo Fashion Week 2013. When we spoke to the owner of the line Amilani Perera herself, it was quite evident this designer was committed to what she described as her passion.
Amilani was quite eager to express her enthusiasm towards the industry and she says such enthusiasm accumulated from the time she was a teenager. Whilst studying at Musaeus College she says that even when selecting subjects for advance level she chose art, business statistics and economics, because she was adamant to become a fashion designer one day, and was one step closer to her dream, when she joined LASALLE College of the Arts in Singapore to pursue her Bachelor of Arts degree in Fashion Design.
College was recalled by Amilani to be where she has the best memories from, especially since she had a wonderful group of friends with whom she enjoyed spending time with and also the exposure she had to variety of cultures. She says it was refreshing to learn about these cultures and the inspirations that made her batch mates choose a career path such as fashion design.
LASALLE College of the Arts was an eye opener for this fashion enthusiast since it made her see fashion in a different perspective and had realized that fashion is not about just having a glamorous life since it can also be a very political element in its own way.
During her time at LASALLE, Amilani says that she has had the opportunity to explore different methods of manufacturing garments, and the choice of whether to be an ethical designer inclined towards eco-friendliness or a designer that may use less ethical designs to create an impact, or to be an industrial designer or an independent designer and she says the choice was hers! – but looking back, she says that her tutors and batch mates had a strong influence on who she is as a designer today.
Even with all those good memories and experience Amilani came back to Sri Lanka in 2009 to be with her family which she says is the most important and that her parents have always being her support throughout her journey and have inspired her to be who she is today.
Upon her return to Sri Lanka, she has joined MAS Holdings in 2009 as a designer for their own brand Amante and has being working as a lingerie designer for Amante up to date and the experience has definitely given her the confidence and know-how of the fashion industry.
We post the question to Amilani whether the market for lingerie is different from the market for other garments and she says that it definitely is, since lingerie is inner-wear and this aspect plays a huge role in terms of comfort, support, and design, as opposed to the markets for other garments.
Considering that there are popular lingerie brands in the market, according to Amilani the brand Amante has a different perspective since the target consumer is mainly South Asian women and the designers for Amante have gone through the tedious task of ensuring that Amante meets the needs of the target market.
To add to the achievements of this designer, she was one of the four finalists at the British Council's Young Creative Entrepreneur Design and Fashion Award in 2012 and she says that even without having her own label at that time the judging panel deciding to shortlist her was quite overwhelming and was quite happy with the positive feedback she received and of course the exposure.
After showcasing designs at Sri Lanka Design Festival in 2010, 2011 and 2012 under the Amante lingerie brand whilst having obtained exposure to the Sri Lankan fashion industry, Amilani had decided to launch her own design label at the Colombo Fashion Week earlier this year which was her first step into the Sri Lankan fashion industry with her very own clothing line, ‘amilani perera’. She says that this has been the highlight of her fashion career since CFW was an amazing experience and was happy with the publicity that her label achieved following its first public appearance.
It would seem quite unorthodox to hear a fashion designer using the ‘Makara Thorana’ for inspiration for a collection, but looking at Amilani’s designs showcased at CFW it was remarkable to see the creative side of this designer and when we asked her how this cultural aspect became her inspiration she says that she always had a love for Sri Lankan arts and craft and the art lessons in school had never left her. According to Amilani the ‘Makara Thorana’ is a design element that draws back from her school days since every time she designs something, her inspiration seems to stem from Sri Lankan traditional art elements.
The fashion industry in Sri Lanka to Amilani is something which is growing fast being able to cater to the international consumer and the global brands and the people seem to be more aware of what is happening and is taken more seriously. However she says that the local consumer is still not ready to adapt to the fast moving industry and she thinks it is important to educate the local consumer for the growth of the industry in Sri Lanka.
A noticeable trait in the local industry which is admired by Amilani is the inclination that the Sri Lankan designers have towards being ethical and she is quite proud of the sustainable fashion and green initiatives being prominently practiced in Sri Lanka.
Since she was one of the top ten finalists of the Singapore competition ‘the Denim Deconstruction Project’ which was organized by the GAS Jeans and Catalogue Fashion Magazine in 2006, another topic discussed with Amilani was ‘deconstructed fashion accessories’. Amilani explained that deconstructed fashion accessories is where second hand clothing is used as raw material to develop another product.
For example, since most of us do not like wearing the same garment, for example a sari for number of occasions, after a while, we tend to discard this sari, but with this technique the used sari can be utilized to produce a pair of shoes or a handbag. According to Amilani this technique is an eco-friendly method of fashion, which she personally promotes through her sub-brand ‘Once more’.
Some designers seems to have a specific category to whom they cater their designs to and Amilani’s designs seem to be generally for day and evening wear which she tries to make them as flexible as possible when it comes to age. But she says that she does not like limiting her designs to a particular age group, since she does not see her designs in that way and anyone who appreciates her designs, should be able to enjoy them.
When discussing future plans, Amilani says that she hopes to introduce bridal wear soon and plans to open her own store one day and to make her products available internationally. She also admitted to having a new collection in the works at the moment which she wanted to keep it as a surprise.
With all the achievements and experience in hand and plans in the making it is quite certain that we could definitely hope to see more of amilani perera designs strutting down the runway and to be spoken of with time to come.
Interview by Radhi de Silva
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0 Comments
Kasun Yasanthe says:
Jul 30, 2013 at 12:00 amGo Ami go (Y)
nadee says:
Sep 01, 2013 at 12:00 amwowwwwwwwwwwww congratzzzzzzzzzzzz and all the best