Fashion designer Senuki Wijesundera launched her label ‘LOLO & LALA’ over the weekend at The Design Collective Store. A fashion student of the Academy of Design, Senuki has completed 2 years of her BA in Fashion and Marketing. LOLO & LALA’s debut collection, the Exclusive Wear Edit, uses the luxurious Armani pure silk as the mainstay fabric of choice in a range of free-flowing silhouettes and styles. We catch up with Senuki to talk about fashion, design, and launching LOLO & LALA. 

Q    What got you into fashion and design?
I’ve been into fashion since I was a kid. I was raised among women and my mum was really fashionable when I was young so being around her, her sense of style played a big influence on why I love fashion. Travelling also got me into fashion and design. Especially going to India, walking on the streets from shop to shop and being around clothes was actually a reason that made me so into this.

Q    What’s the label ‘LOLO&LALA?
Lolo and Lala is a Fashion, Beauty, and Lifestyle brand. We strive to allow you to explore your style in a manner that is reasonable and inclusive. We are hoping to achieve this via our digitised platform that not only consists of LOLO & LALA merchandise but also products from established and start-up brands.

Q    What’s LOLO&LALA’s debut collection?
The debut collection that we just launched is called the ‘Exclusive Wear Edit’. The collection consists of luxurious, sophisticated designs and these are all made out of Armani pure Silk. We have signed up with The Design Collective store for this collection so these styles will be exclusively sold at The Design Collective store. 

Q    How would you describe your signature style as a designer?
My fashion style is almost a direct derivative of my mood, personality, emotions. It changes from time to time so I’d say it’s a very adaptable style because the world is changing every second and fashion needs to adapt to that! 

Q    What inspires your work as a designer? 
Being a fashion designer is a lot of hard work and one of the hardest aspects of it is actually finding inspiration for your work. But envisioning something, finding the right inspiration and vision, and bringing it to reality is what makes me strive to be a designer every second. 

Q    How was the launch of LOLO & LALA?
Honestly, it was a long process with a lot of hard work. The last few days leading up to the launch went by in such a rush. I had many, many sleepless nights and I was extremely nervous at times in anticipation of it. But the launch was so successful and looking back at it, I am super proud of everything and how it happened. I couldn’t be happier. Launching LOLO & LALA was a team effort and I wouldn’t have been able to do it if not for the LOLO & LALA team, The Design Collective team, and my partner! 

Q    What’s been challenging about launching LOLO & LALA?
With the current economic crisis, fabric prices are increasing every day. And with the energy crisis and all the power cuts, it’s so tough to get things in order and on time because the entire production comes to a halt. The staff is finding it hard to even make it to work with all the expenses they have to commit to and everyone is struggling so much to make ends meet. Seeing them the struggle is truly heartbreaking. Launching a brand always has challenges but it has been especially challenging in these times. 

Q    What’s next for the label and yourself as a designer?
We are actually coming up with our e-commerce multi-vendor platform and I’m very excited about that! Our vision and mission are to allow our customers to explore their style in a manner that is reasonable and inclusive. To ultimately provide purpose and existence to our customer's desired lifestyle products whilst ensuring that we cater to a wide range of tastes and styles by allowing the collaboration of other brands onto our e-commerce platform.

Instagram: @loloandlalaofficial
Website: www.loloandlala.com