Colombo Fashion Week 2012 on the ramp from 24 Feb.

By Cheranka Mendis

The much anticipated HSBC Colombo Fashion Week is now all set to open three days of glamour and fashion related business to the local community starting 24 February.

With fashion weeks around the world being identified as the most glamorous business meetings, HSBC CFW will aim at promoting and encouraging local designers to further their engagement in commerce and enhance expertise as fashion designers. 

It would also support the goal of placing Sri Lanka as the South Asian hub for fashion.

President Colombo Fashion Week Ajai Vir Singh told the media on Wednesday that the Week will look extensively at creating a platform for Sri Lankan designers to go international. 

In this respect he noted that HSBC CFW has collaborated with five retailers this year to create a designer/retail network for fashion consumers in the country. The five retailers are Trunk, Canatalope Boutique, Aakshii, Melache and Cotton Collection. 

“We have been positioning to build the business of fashion quite strongly over the past few years. We started the network program two years ago by talking to retailers etc and this year we have gained a deeper level where we identify five retailers who would retail Sri Lankan collections to fashion buyers who come here,” Singh said. He commented that retail is bound to grow in Sri Lanka with the increase in tourism among other factors.

“We always get international fashion retailers to coming in now we must somehow promote fashion among the local retailers.”

He claimed that HSBC CFW has been a catalyst in promoting local designers over the years. “Earlier you would hardly see local designers involved. In 2003 we could find just three local designers but the industry has grown so much that this year we will feature collections of 20 Sri Lankans.” Home grown talents such as Dharshi, KT Brown, Yolanda, Fouzul Hammed, Sonali Fernando, Ramona and Upeka will be on ramp again this year alongside local brands such as String Hopper, Arugam Bay, Middle Finger, Aviraté, KUR, Conscience and ODEL. Newcomers from the local list include Lilian Pereira, KOCA by RN and ‘G’ by Gihan Ediriweera who have been selected by the organisers after impressing industry experts with their work.  For the first time HSBC CFW will work closely with Perine Fernando, Sri Lankan born model who has successfully built a career as a model overseas. She will be the official spokesperson for Fashion Week.

An exciting mix of international designers have also lined up in support such as Bibi Russell, Rizwan Beyg, Samant Chauhan, Manoviraj Khosala and Agatha Ruiz de la Prada while Pepa Pombo from Columbia, James Ferriera from India, Gaetanna Navara from Italy and Jason & Anshu from India will debut their collections. Partnering with British Council, HSBC CFW will bring down William Green straight off the ramps of London Fashion Week to showcase his collection and to conduct workshops for aspiring designers.

This year too, a ‘Gen-Next Award’ will be presented to a local designer to showcase his or her collection overseas. Last year’s winner was Dimuthu who showcased his collections in three cities in India. Dharshi was also selected last year to show at Russian Fashion Week. Singh asserted that HSBC CFW has tie ups with Miami Fashion Week, Russia Fashion Week and Malaysia Fashion Week and partnerships along similar lines will be forged. 

Singh noted that the ‘Ethical Fashion Day’ started last year will be on this year as well on day two of the event. “Sri Lanka has already taken a lead by positing itself as garments without guilt ethical manufacturing sourcing hub and I think we can easily become a hub for that in South Asia. We have an interesting dialog with British Council this time where ethical designers from South Asia like Bibi Russel, Rizwan Beg will discuss how we can make Colombo a hub for South Asia,” he said. 

He noted that even though the West loves ethical fashion the market for ethical products is predominately from Asia, Africa and Latin America. “While we are here we can easily build momentum behind that and get Sri Lanka fashion to position itself. It would be a great synergy we could draw upon.”

Singh acknowledged that the indirect results to the local industry through HSBC CFW are tremendous. “The key indirect role Fashion Week plays is that it influences how people dress and how fashion goes into society. There is a direct impact with the five retailer network this year.”