Colombo Fashion Week announced the launch of it’s summer collection for 2017 as it returns to celebrate it’s 14th year. As the premier fashion event in Sri Lanka, CFW returns with multiple initiatives aimed at developing the scope of Sri Lanka’s fashion industry. 

Taking place from the 13th to the 18th of March, CFW 2017 will host a plethora of events featuring art, food, films, workshops, pop-up stores and fashion shows incorporating the concept of fashion and lifestyle together. 

At press conference held on the 1st of March at Hilton Colombo, Founder and President of Colombo Fashion Week, Ajai Vir Singh elaborated the plans CFW has for the season, “We are happy to announce our ethical fashion day as we are one of the first fashion weeks to take a step forward when it comes to ethical fashion or, as I like to call it, fashion for good. We have expanded our scope this season and we are excited to be celebrating many milestones this year!” 

Under the theme, ‘Celebrate Colombo’, CFW introduces week long activities to bring Colombo alive through fashion aimed at showcasing Colombo from a tourism perspective as a vibrant city full of life and entertainment. 

Managing Director of the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau, Mr. Sutheash Balasubramaniam expressed that “Fashion is an anchor for tourism as you can see from countries like Italy where the Milan Fashion Week has done great for the tourism of that country. Being that this is the year of sustainable tourism, its great to see concepts like ethical fashion being in line with this concept.” 

CFW 2017 celebrates an important milestone of 10 years association between HSBC and CFW. Commenting on this, CEO for HSBC Sri Lanka and Maldives, Mark Prothero, said “We are extremely proud to have been involved with CFW for 10 years consecutively. It’s a double celebration for us as it’s also 125 years in Sri Lanka as well. This event is one which is always in high demand among our customers and is also an incredibly successful event.” 

CFW 2017 is set to showcase 30 designers over a period of four days including international designers such as Gaetano Navarra from Italy, Abraham and Thakore from India, Agatha Ruiz de la Prada from Spain, Bibi Russell from Bangladesh and ethical fashion designer RimZim Dadu. Local designers such as Dharshi Keertisena, Ramona Oshini, Lovi Ceylon and Fouzul Hameed among many others will also take the ramp. 

The Emerging Designer Showcase will see 10 new designers who have been mentored and guided through the CFW creative process on the 15th of March. The Ethical Fashion Day will conduct ethical talks by industry experts on the future of ethical fashion on the 17th of March. Knowledge workshops would also take place focusing on Fashion Styling and Fashion Illustration by experts from India and the US to teach designers to expand their skill sets. 

Moreover, CFW will introduce a 1 minute Fashion Film Festival with Film presentations made by designers showcasing their inspiration for the Summer collections. The art show, Art Connect, will feature five major artists presenting their work under the theme ‘Second Skin’ on the 13th of March and stands to be the first of it’s kind to be shown in Colombo. 

Not forgetting, Fashion + Food will return to provide guests a curated food menu based on fashion from the 13th to the 19th of March at Lab and Graze Kitchen at the Hilton Colombo, Cafe Francais by Pourcel and Rare at Residence by Uga Escapes. 

CFW 2017 will take place in partnership with official host, Hilton Colombo, official jewellery partner, Colombo Jewellery Stores, official beauty partner, Ponds, official hair and make up partner, Ramani Fernando, official lifestlye beverage partner, Wine World, official digital solutions partner, Etisalat, official eyewear partner, Vision Care, official PR partner, Leo Burnett and MSLGROUP, official concierge partner, Quintessentially Sri Lanka and One Galle Face as the official residency partner. 

PHOTOGRAPHS by Kushan Pathiraja