CFW 2015 proves it is an important fashion platform in South Asia
Thursday, 2 April 2015 00:05
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HSBC Colombo Fashion Week (CFW), which started 12 years ago with the objective of uplifting Sri Lanka’s fashion design industry, recently concluded yet another successful season. Since its inception over a decade ago, HSBC CFW has proved that the show provides local and regional designers with one of the most important platforms in South Asia, and truly gives them a voice. HSBC CFW continued to instill pride in Sri Lankan fashion designers and has helped the development of their labels which are now fondly worn by fashion consumers in Sri Lanka and overseas. This year, as part of its efforts to promote Sri Lanka as an important fashion and destination, HSBC CFW partnered with Sri Lanka Tourism to launch the ‘Celebrate Colombo’ project.
“By God’s grace, we have accomplished what we set out to with CFW and we have impacted every aspect of Sri Lanka’s fashion design industry,” says CFW President Ajai V. Singh. “This year, our renewed focus has been on retail opportunities through the Design Trunk Show and ‘BrightSpark’ Shows which we hope will develop a new generation of designers. There will also be more interesting formats of CFW from this year onwards.”
The HSBC CFW Spring/Summer 2015 Show was hosted at a semi-outdoor venue, at the Hilton Colombo Poolside which was themed as a vibrant Fashion Village. Speckled with white tents, in which an exciting series of fashion-focused activities took place from morning until late in the night, the Fashion Village was organised and produced to international standards, and was well received by the public and CFW invitees.
In partnership with Sri Lanka Tourism, CFW highlighted the bustling city of Colombo through ‘Celebrate Colombo’, a unique project that aims to create citywide hype and participation during CFW as well as showcase the many experiences Colombo has to offer to visitors. Two iconic locations, the Beira Lake and the Old Colombo Dutch Hospital, were highlighted as must-visit attractions. This season, six premier restaurants offered limited edition, fashion-themed menus as part of CFW’s popular ‘Fashion+Food’ series. Il Ponte at the Hilton Colombo served as a Fashion Café and Fashion Bar within the Fashion Village, offering an eclectic menu of food and fashion lifestyle-themed beverages to the public and CFW invitees throughout the day.
Showcasing leading local and international talent on the runway, the Main Shows (12-14 March) this season featured three established designers from New York, USA as well as four Indian designers who had shown at the most recent edition of India Fashion Week, including the celebrated, Bangladeshi-born Bibi Russell. The Main Shows also showcased the latest collections of 20 Sri Lankan designers, which included established labels such as Yoland Aluwihare, Sonali Dharmawardena, Dimuthu Sahabandu, CHARINI, FH Studio, Deneth, Arugam Bay Beachwear and Conscience.
CFW provided young, upcoming designers the rare opportunity to debut their collections at the SS15 Show, at the ‘BrightSpark’ Shows (11 March). Handpicked though a careful selection process, ‘BrightSpark’ designers received mentoring and guidance from the CFW team to learn the inner workings of a fashion week and they produced their runway collections according to the highest industry standards. The prestigious CFW Fashion Design Fund was awarded to ‘BrightSpark’ designer, Kasun Gunawardana. The award was established to support emerging fashion talent and it is given to the most promising ‘BrightSpark’ designer each year, as a source of funding for their entire collection.
A key objective of HSBC CFW is to provide viable retail opportunities to home grown fashion labels. CFW hosted another successful Design Trunk Show (12-14 March) within the Fashion Village. Participating designers were able to showcase and pre-sell exclusively designed items from their latest collections in a beautifully conceptualised, interactive retail space. This format also helped designers to be retail-ready online on the CFW Curates site (www.cfwcurates.com) and it also helped them prepare for international retail opportunities – a main focus of CFW in the year ahead.
Two engaging and informative workshops were also hosted at the Fashion Village; ‘The ABCs of Fashion PR’ by CJ Swanton, Founder and MD of Omen PR, New York, USA and ‘Fashion Styling, the Editorial Way’ by Mohan Neelakantan, former Fashion Director for ELLE India and anchor/stylist for NDTV Good Times. Both workshops provided designers with useful insights, and showed them how to build their brand images and promote their work in the international arena.
Partnering with TNL Radio for the first-ever ‘Music Designed’ program, CFW provided an innovative platform for upcoming artists and DJs who were able to perform and gain recognition at the CFW after-parties. Through ‘Music Designed’, the Main Shows and ‘BrightSpark’ Shows, designers were able to have one-on-one consultations with established DJs to curate the perfect playlist for the showcasing of their runway collections. CFW is one of three fashion weeks in Asia that is over ten years old and is strengthened by its likeminded partners – HSBC, Hilton Colombo, Land Rover, Wineworld, Sri Lanka Tourism, Xquisit, Colombo Jewellery Stores, Unilever, Hameedia, Ramani Fernando Salons, Leo Burnett and Quintessentially – who share its vision and aspirations, and lend their support toward its commitment to raising the bar of fashion in Sri Lanka.
Like the official CFW Facebook page (www.facebook.com/colombofashionweek) to catch a glimpse of the CFW SS15 Show, including all designer collections, backstage exclusives and styles featured at CFW. For the latest updates on upcoming CFW projects, visit the official CFW website (www.colombofashionweek.com).
