Combining a love for fashion with opportunities to help kids their age, the Elizabeth Moir School will host ‘Fashion Fusion’ this Saturday, 25th April at 7:30pm at Park Street Mews. The show will illustrate a blending of contemporary and traditional styles from around the world. The diversity in designs both echoes the cultural diversity in the school and celebrates the unity and sense of family that is the hallmark of the school's ethos. It will include 'Linen and Life' by Ramona Pulle, 'Glitterati' by Latika Alok, 'Acushla' by Sonali Dharmawardena, and Salvage. Several students of the school too will have the opportunity to showcase their designs.

This is all in aid of making a difference in the lives of the rural youth of Sri Lanka. All proceeds will be donated to the Foundation of Goodness, who will facilitate a series of workshops on design in the South of the island. The prefects look forward to organising and conducting these workshops under the supervision of Sonali Dharmawardena. The ultimate goal is to help broaden the horizons of the underprivileged youth by giving them exposure to design and so provide them with more study and career options.

Urshella Hishaam

I believe that the first step is usually the hardest and we are planning on helping the underprivileged youth who are interested in design with this first step. Through the design workshops we will be having with the help of the Foundation of Goodness, anyone interested will gain some knowledge on the basics of design; a knowledge which they could use later to even help them find careers in design.

Ashfath Ifham

The reason why we decided to do the fashion show was because it not only features the cultural diversity within our school community, but it also provides a platform for our student body to feature their outstanding talents whether it being modelling, designing clothes or featuring their brilliant dancing and singing.

Our show has two parts to it; the show itself along with what its final objective really is, which is to provide all young people the opportunity to follow their passion in their career and not be limited to traditional career options most young people in Sri Lanka have forced upon them. Many are not aware of the possibility of getting into this industry which provides people with vast opportunities; the fact that we as young people can change this is my favourite part about it.

Takaharu Higuchi

Art and design isn't a freely available career option to the rural youth of Sri Lanka. In fact it may even be seen as socially unacceptable. Despite this, I felt I must share the importance of persevering to do what you love, because to succeed you must enjoy what you do. I was inspired to persevere by Yuki Togashi, a Japanese basketball player who got into the NBA despite his height being a barrier.

Mira Gunawansa

I can’t do anything alone. What we can do is join forces and reach out to everyone possible- spreading the word and convincing those who can provide opportunities for the youth in general to take a chance with the underprivileged youth as well. One thing we realised whilst brainstorming this project is that while we are heavily blessed with chances to explore our passions and talents left and right, many boys and girls our age but from different backgrounds and upbringings do not have those same opportunities. Everyone should have the same chances as we do to make it in the world. Unfortunately for our generation, the world does not seem to make room for that to happen. So we might as well jump at the chance to make that change, and try our best to help our friends - known and yet to be known - follow their dreams and get there someday.

Tripti Mathews

The prefects of Elizabeth Moir School organise an event for the students every year. This year we decided on a fashion show as we thought it would provide an interesting contrast to the cricket carnival we had last year. My favourite part about the fashion show so far has been the rehearsals as this has given students from different grades a chance to bond with each other through a love for fashion. Through the proceeds from this fashion show, the underprivileged youth will be given an opportunity to explore their interest in fashion in the form of a fashion design workshop. This will broaden their career opportunities by allowing them to experience and actually consider a field that they wouldn't otherwise explore.

By Marissa van Eyck