Full Name :  Perine Fernando

 

School : St. Paul’s Milagiriya

 

Status : Married

 

Birthday: June 6, If I tell you the year I'd have to kill you.. but I'm about 15/20 years older than most of the models you saw on CFW. Lol.

 

Role model : People like Bibi Russell that make a difference in the world.

 

Passions : Socialising, communicating, and learning from people from different cultures and walks of life.

 

Cartoon you like : If I was to watch one it would be Sponge Bob.

 

Have you learned something important from life?

I'm always learning! At different stages in life we learn different lessons that may be needed for us to grow, but most recently I learnt that we all need is to be heard and valued, from the person cleaning your house to the person that may be most important in your life, we all need to feel important and heard.

 

How confident were you on the runway?

Some days more and some days less, depending on how you are feeling that day. I think the confidence you were given growing up plays a big role, I was brought up with love and confidence, so I have carried that all my life. As a model confidence is key.

 

What was your biggest fear, when you were on the runway?

Probably tripping and falling.

 

You have done 17 shows at the Paris Fashion Week? 

Yes I did 17 shows at the fashion week in Paris one season, and 12 in Milan, that was in the very early 90's. This was even before we had Internet, I worked through 1987-1999 doing fashion week in the major markets like Paris, Milan, NY, Tokyo and London. Fashion week did exists then.. lol. But now has been so commercialised, it was just those major cities that had fashion week in those days.

 

I am lucky to be still working in NY in other areas of modeling quite a bit, but obviously not for fashion week, it is usually girls between the age of 13- 25 years who work at fashion week, but there is so much other work that happens during and after fashion week outside of Lincoln Centre. It's quite funny how people are so focused only on fashion week, when it is such a changed time now, MOST girls don't even get paid walking the shows in Lincoln Centre, they receive cloths for payment, it's only the established designers who pay these days, a lot of girls do it for the press pictures, and it's in other jobs out of fashion week and Lincoln Centre that they make money, but the reality is most models can hardly make ends meet in an expensive city like NY. It is a very different time than when I was doing fashion week. The market is saturated with models from all parts of the world, more quantity then quality.. That’s why it is so important to have clients that like you and use you regularly throughout the year, I don't mean to be judgmental but there is a lot Sri Lankans in fashion who think they know, but have absolutely no idea of how it really works.

 

CFW is opening up the industry for everyone in fashion, who live in Sri Lanka to interact with people from other parts of the world, and this will open up a better understanding.

 

Who is your favourite super model?

I don't really have a favourite supper model, if I had to choose one it would be Cindy Crawford who has taken her life above and beyond modelling.

 

How many shoes do you own?

I have not counted, but quite a bit.

 

Who is your inspiration?

My mom

 

What’s your diet plan?

A healthy life style

 

What is your definition to the word “fashion”? 

Fashion changes so rapidly, so for a designer staying current and coming up with something new, season after season, you have to be talented and so creative, and then you have the copy cats! 

 

 

If Questions

 

If you could only have one meal for the rest of your life, what would it be?

Rice and curry, can I also choose Italian food??

 

If you could be any age for a week, what age would that be?

I’ll probably choose a year much older than I am, so I can enjoy and appreciate the age I'm at now, you know what they say, getting old is not easy.

 

If you wake up tomorrow looking like Ajai, what would you do? 

Probably would not mind since Ajai is a good looking man, I would be more freaked out to wake up as a man though. Lol.

 

If you could retire tomorrow, what would you do?

I would be horrified! I love keeping busy and being occupied.

 

If you woke up 20kg heavier, what will you do?

As long as it’s not it one spot I would be ok with it...would it be muscle or fat??

 

 

 

In the Spot

 

Name one Sri Lankan designer who you will wear? 

I own some KT Brown.

 

Would you like to live in Lanka? 

I would love to live in Sri Lanka, but I would need to be passionate about what I am doing in life.

 

Who was your favourite at CFW 2013?

Bibi.

 

 

FOR FUN

 

Do you like going window shopping?

No

 

Can you tell if someone is lying to you?

Yes I would like to think so.

 

All-time favourite movie?

I love Zoolander, I have to laugh so hard each time.

 

Are looks important in a relationship?

I used to think looks and smarts was important, but now I think kindness is so important.

 

Do you follow trends?

Nope! Trend is a unspoken universal language, and I would like to think I see it or speak it before it gets to main stream or the runways.. being around fashion so much it gets rubbed off and I start liking it, but I'm not running after a trend.

 

Are you more like your mom or your dad?

Probably dad.

 

Black or white?

Black

 

Do you believe in destiny?

Yes I do believe in destiny somewhat, but you can also make your own with hard work.