Life style
Styles, trends and designers at Colombo Fashion Week
by Zanita Careem
The Colombo Fashion Week (CFW) has created a benchmark in Sri Lanka’s fashion industry.
The focus of CFW 2020 was to encourage participants and Sri Lankan designers to connect stakeholders to embark on responsible focus in fashion. Kudos to CFW founder and Managing Director Ajay Vir Singh, Sri Lanka for achieving this amidst lockdowns and social distancing regulations and while the world was grappling with the question of whether-and how they should allow ‘physical fashion shows’.
The show was to be held in March with many upcoming local and foreign designers. But the pandemic put the brakes on this hectic jet setting schedule and cast a new light by holding the fashion week in August reshaping its schedule. Quite unavoidable was the absence of international designers.
What was noticed this time at the CFW was that it was truly becoming responsible with contemporary silhouettes. Sustainable style was certainly on the agenda of the fashion designers.
An array of different styles and trends was showcased on the runaway by our designers. The three-day edition was an amalgamation of sustainable fabrics, contemp
orary silhouettes and trendsetting styles.
Over the years, the Fashion Week had earne
d the reputation for being one the most sought after event in the local fashion calendar. The fashion show gave an impetus to local talent putting Sri Lanka on the international map.
CFW Founder and Managing Director Ajai Vir Singh expressed that holding the CFW amidst a pandemic was challenging. Since the environment was changing, the m
indset and behaviour of society was changing. Of course, this change brought its own challenges. We had to be innovative and come up with a presentation of fashion that would be accepted and relevant to the new environment. To do this, we briefed designers on the new mindset and they worked on new ways to present their collections in keeping with the ‘new normalcy’ where fashion is no exception. The pandemic changed circumstances completely so it required new health
gether, CFW 2020 also illustrated how fashion and art go hand- in- hand. Singh shared that this move to combine different forms of art and creativity was put in place partly by the need to create a more engaging format of presentation that appealed both online and offline. “One of the key challenges this year was to create a unique format of presenting fashion which is attractive,” he noted.
and safety protocols, including a very small number of guests presented in an interesting way, wearing masks, temperature checks, social distancing, and so on.”
Linking performance, art and fashion to
The long-awaited 2020 season took to the ramp over three curated nights from 13th to 15th August, showcasing the best of Sri Lankan fashion. The first two nights of the CFW were held at the Shangri-La Hotel, Colombo with the finale event taking place at the Hilton, Colombo.
CFW 2020 was the first fashion week of its kind to take place globally following the pandemic hitting us earlier this year, with the CFW team going above and beyond to implement health and safety guidelines for the protection of its guests.
Day 2 of CFW, also unfolding at the Shangri-La Hotel, Colombo, shone a light on some of Sri Lanka’s favourite established designers, opening with the latest collection by Aslam Hussein and closing with Dimuthu Sahabandu, whose brand has grown with the CFW, developing from a young, emerging brand to the established Sri Lankan designer brand it is today.
The finale evening at the Hilton, Colombo showcased some of the country’smost beloved designer brands with the likes of Indi, Jai by Aashkii, and Meraki featuring their latest. The season closed with the unveiling of the latest collection of designer Charini Suriyage’s eponymous label Charini to both online and offline audiences while maintaining the quality of CFW productions. Singh added: “for this, we had to create interesting collaborations with music, dance, and the literary scene of Sri Lanka which was a global first, where the celebrated Sri Lankan author Ashok Ferrey did a reading while fashion was being presented. This was a unique event where creative collaborations were showcased and appreciated by the audience.”
The Day 2 opened with designer Aslam Hussein’s collection going down the runway to the reading of an excerpt from Ashok Ferrey’s latest book, The Unmarriageable Man, read by the author himself.
About Sri Lankan fashions moving to the future, Singh said: “we believe the future of CFW is bright and is an evolved platform in line with the new needs of the fashion industry and the new consumption patterns of society. In a nutshell, CFW remains a development platform with an evolved look and relevant solutions.”