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HSBC Colombo Fashion Week 2021 kicks off 

29 Mar 2021

HSBC Colombo Fashion Week Summer 2021 took off spectacularly on 25 March at Shangri-La Hotel, Colombo. The three day showcase featured 11 emerging designers on day one, and the designs showcased this year were based on the craft industry in Sri Lanka. The main target was to give a modern spin to the traditional craft industry. The designers selected to showcase this year aim to promote responsible fashion while uplifting Sri Lankan traditional crafts and appreciating local craftsmanship. The lineup included Navindri Ranatunga, Hasindu Jayasingha, Chamanka Pehesara, Nisansala Deegala, Ishani Rajapaksha, Naduni Katuwandeniya, Nipunika Fernando, Kavishna Kuruwitage, Akash Paranavithana, Hashani Fernando and Divya Jayawickrama.    Let’s take an indepth look at a few crowd favourites.    TANDRA - Naduni Katuwandniya   Naduni Katuwandniya, a Fashion and Lifestyle Designing undergraduate student of the University of Moratuwa, showcased her first collection at CFW Summer 2021. Her collection drew inspiration from the beauty of the ocean; her choice of color palette was inspired by coral reefs, silhouettes by the sea creatures and the old Sinhala traditional clothes. Her collection featured dramatic sleeves, made using the old tradition of beeralu craft to show the rhythm of the human body. The beeralu lace has a charm of its own, with its intricate detailing and valuable material. She used monochromatic colors along with beeralu technique to give a more modern look to the traditional craft. Cotton yarns were used to create colorful beeralu lace, all of which were handmade. It was clear that she applied dramatic forms of mother nature to the human body.  [gallery link="file" size="medium" ids="127707,127708,127709"]   Sanni St. - Nipunika Fernando    Fashion and Costume Designer Nipunika Fernando created garments for casual, event, costume, and avant-garde wear. Her designs focus on sustainability and Sri Lankan design elements. She believes a person’s style is an expression of themselves and considers this when creating custom pieces for clients, ensuring that each client receives beautifully made, personalised garments that they can treasure for years to come. Her collection aims to bring traditional Sri Lankan motifs into street and event wear using a modern take on the iconic Sanni face, incorporated into comfortable, versatile garments. This collection features numerous pleats in wrap skirts and dhoti pants along with collared shirts and fitted blouses. The strict pleats of the Kandyan osari and the flowing gathers of a saree are made into detachable pieces, providing a new way to add a Sri Lankan touch to any outfit.    Fabric belts were used to accentuate the high waist area and are reminiscent of the bands of cloth worn across the torso by kolam dances. The cheeky Sanni smile adorning facemasks and garments functions as a reference to the age-old tradition of Sanni masks being worn during kolam dances to ward off ailments, much like wearing a facemask during a pandemic. Garments in this collection are made from locally crafted handloom in a shimmering gold, brought together with ivory and chocolate brown linens. Utilising natural textiles and coconut fixings, sustainability is woven into the very fibre of this collection.  [gallery link="file" size="medium" ids="127712,127716,127718"] MAEL - Akash Paranavithana    Akash Paranavithana concentrates on zero waste and upcycled patterns in garments and uses unconventional materials, transforming them into something wearable. He also focuses on making jewellery and accessories to enhance and bring variety to his collection, as he believes this to be a good way to recycle leftover materials.    The concept for this collection is about how an individual's emotions become more stable with age. The amount of pure emotion that a person shows is blocked and faked because of various factors. The colour palette he chose for his collection was black, with gold accents and jewellery. The lack of freedom one has to show what they truly feel like has both pros and cons to it, which is what Akash is trying to showcase through his collection.  [gallery link="file" size="medium" ids="127714,127713,127717"]   PLAY FOR ME - Divya Jayawickrama    Radical pattern making, textile development, bold manipulations, and meticulous research go hand in hand with Divya Jayawickrama’s ambition and will to create something new and modern. Her debut clothing brand “DIVYA93”, is a unisex brand that was launched at Colombo Fashion Week Summer 2020.    This interesting collection is inspired by playing poker cards. It is about feelings, looks, shapes, and card virtuoso. The concept, “PLAY FOR ME”, speaks for itself, with hand block printing used mainly in her collection to express her ideas with handcraft design.  [gallery link="file" size="medium" ids="127719"]   Skeletal Dimensions - Kavishna Kuruwitage    Kavishna Kuruwitage’s brand represents her personality and who she strives to be as a person. Falling in love with batik, one of the most beautiful crafts that Sri Lankan tradition holds has paved a way for her to create intricate details and explore and experiment new ways to create various textiles.    Her collection, Skeletal Dimensions, is a womenswear collection inspired by 1980’s men’s workwear clothing. It combines the juxtaposition between the human skeleton structure and its mindsets. The colour palette was an inspiration drawn through the colorful hues and textured shades seen in insect wings. The colours explored include the use of baby pink, royal blues, sky blues, and black to add a powerful and monotonous touch to the collection. The silhouettes are inspired by work wear which shows the bold, tomboyish persona that she portrays and would like to show through her brand. The use of fabrics include cottons, linens, and silks. Trying to start being responsible in fashion, she has incorporated natural buttons made from recycled plastic and some made from the extracts of fruits.  [gallery link="file" size="medium" ids="127720,127721,127722"] The belle of the batik - Ishani Rajapaksha    Ishani Rajapaksha has an avid interest in Sri Lankan traditional crafts and has worked with Dumbara weaving, beeralu, and batik crafts. Her design aesthetic focuses on incorporating “lines” as the main emphasis to bring out a new fashion aesthetic within traditional Sri Lankan crafts. Her collection was one which outlines the journey of working women with a line aesthetic. The colour palette contained five colours; blue, white, beige, pink, and black. Every single colour has a meaning and the alignment of the colours represent the journey of powerful women. The colour pink was to represent femininity, while blue was for confidence and inspiration, white for positivity, beige for calmness and flexibility, and black for power and elegance. There were two techniques used in her collection - batik and pleating. These techniques were inspired by the lines in nature. Despite there being numerous meanings in lines, the collection highlights straight, vertical, irregular, thin, and thick lines to represent simpleness, softness, flexibility, stability, and challenges respectively. [gallery link="file" size="medium" ids="127726,127725,127724"] Photos: Lalith Perera


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