Couture in Colombo? Georges shows how and why

By Cheranka Mendis

Sri Lanka has never been a country that has had a trail of world famous couture fashion shows to its name. In fact Sri Lanka has never seen a real couture show before; that is until today.

The world of fashion in Sri Lanka is about to change with the Lebanese born Georges Hobeika choosing Sri Lanka to open up his designs in Asia with a retrospective collection of his personal favourites and his fall/winter 2010-2011 couture collection tonight at the Cinnamon Grand. In fact it is the first time a certified Chambre Cyndicale de couture du Parisienne is showing in Sri Lanka.

Hobeika is one of the best known haute designers in recent times who traditionally opens Couture Week in Paris each year.  Having been in the industry for over 20 years, the designer is famous for his cuts and colours that compliments the form of the woman accentuating her female form exuding feminity, sensuality and grace.

Trained to be a civil engineer, Hobeika is a late bloomer when it comes to fashion. He pursued a career in architectural art, but his mother Marie who was a seamstress in Beirut continuously requested his help in bringing forth new designs.

 Though his civil engineering work helped him in his sketches, it was his passion and innovativeness that got him where he is now.

Fashion grew on him, though we can also say that it was in his blood.

  It was while he was assisting his mother that he took great interest in fabric and began designing his own clothes.

In 1994, he ventured to Paris and pursued internships at prestigious fashion houses, such a Chanel. In 1995, Hobeika returned to Lebanon and began creating his own label. This was soon followed with the opening of his atelier, employing over 150 skilled workers and comprising various specialised workshops to fabricate evening gowns, wedding dresses and suits. And finally, in 2001, Georges Hobeika went back to Paris and debuted during haute couture week in 2001 at Hotel K in the French capital.

Charity to the fore

In Sri Lanka for the first time, his visit has been backed by his close association with Sri Lankan born couture designer Dinesh Chandrasena. Speaking to Daily FT designer Georges Hobeika expressed that while discussing his desire to enter into the Asian market, Chandrasena has provided the perfect host and offered the perfect chance by collaborating with First Lady Shiranthi Rajapaksa in one of her charity affairs. Hobeika who was not very fluent in English spoke through his International Business Developer, Martine Helou who acted as a translator during the interview.

“I was all too happy to take part in a charitable cause as I have contributed largely to other charity events back at home as well,” he said. The red carpet ‘invitees only’ charity event has the endorsement of Rajapaksa who heads the ‘Carlton Suwa Sevana’ cancer charity project. “I feel honoured and lucky to be part of the project. The MRI equipments that would be donated to the patients have already been ordered,” he said.

Looking at Asia

The move is significant for both Hobeika as well as Sri Lanka. While for Sri Lanka this is the first time such a high end fashion show will roll out in the country; for Hobeika it is the first time he ventures out of the fashionable Paris shows. “We are looking keenly at the Asian market and Sri Lanka is the ideal place to start with. It is geographically located at a mid-point between Middle East and Japan — countries that have emerged as important fashion and style markets.”

The plan is to first introduce Hobeika to Sri Lanka and then to the rest of Asia after analysing how Asians would respond to his famous designs. “After the show which will showcase a retrospective collection which would include 40 of some of his personal favourites as well as a few new pieces from his Fall/Winter 2010-2011 collection. We would like to see the response from the region, look at potential customers etc,” international business developer for Georges Hobeika, Martine Helou said. “We are also hoping to take part in Mumbai Fashion Week. fashion shows in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Tokyo will also be in our radar. It is not just about sell, sell and sell. It is about checking the market and take things from there,” said Martine Helou.

On Sri Lanka

Even though there are no signs that Hobeika is here to stay or even come back, Helou asserted, what is important is that with Hobeika Sri Lanka too could enter the world fashion industry. A large number of media personnel from the region will be here for the event. Helou claims that even the fact that Hobeika is looking at Sri Lanka as a viable market would ignite interest in world fashion fanatics. “We are doing this because we love the idea of collaboration for charity.”

On Sri Lanka itself Hobeika and Helou are all praise for the hospitality. “The people are wonderful and generous. From the moment we stepped down to the country, the warmth of the people has been great. Even meeting the First Lady showed that no matter how high her authority, she was still a nice and warm person.”

Helou said that even though she does not know about fashion in Sri Lanka per se, women all over the world love fashion and clothes and colour; so there is no doubt left that Sri Lankans would embrace Hobeika’s famous designs.

“This country is full of colour. We appreciate the Sri Lankan customs and traditions and are happy to see how the ladies here love to wear colour. If women value their traditions and colours so much, they are bound to love what they see.”

 

“I love the culture here. Everything is beautiful. The world sees Sri Lanka as an emerging market. They know Sri Lanka as a little country; but a lot do not understand what really happened here in terms of the conflict. You need to go out there and tell them what it was about. That it is over and all is well,” Helou stated.

Celebrities and fashion

On Celebrity designs, Hobeika says his first ever ‘A’ list celebrity was Diana Kruger in 2007 for the Venetian Film festival. Since then he has designed for Estelle Lefebure, Zoe Felix, Mia Frye, Cecilia Cara, Julie Depardieu, Elodie Gossuin, Romane Boringer and Judith Godreche along with Jennifer Lopez, Hillary Swank, Selena Gomez, Venessa Hugens and the latest Katy Perry.