Young talent fly the flag for Lankan design

Coccooned in the middle of dreary winter in London it was  a breath of fresh air to watch the live stream shows of MBFW SL as designer after designer presented well thought out collections in a riot of colour that injected a frisson of happiness and joy not only for the pops of colour but also the fact that the designer future of Lanka is looking extremely bright. Showing an  extraordinary high standard of young design talent in Sri Lanka AOD presented MBFW Sri Lanka. Over three days in excess of  100 young designers showcased their design vision which incorporated the theme of The New Local which utilised Sri Lankan artisansal crafts with cutting edge designs. 

The Colombo Innovation Tower where the AOD is headquartered provided the perfect venue to host an intimate crowd of stakeholders from across the fashion industry. 

The shows were presented and executed with great aplomb  in line with international fashion shows with models trotting down the runway with the sole purpose of showing off the clothes. No theatrical choreography was required as the creations spoke volumes about the designers creativity and fashion forward collections. Kudos to Linda Speldewinde and her able team headed by Karen Mcleod who put in  a sterling effort to execute a show of this magnitude. 

Day 2 and Day 3 saw some outstanding collections with the use of batik, knits, embroidery and handloom taking centre stage in the most creative and cutting edge way. Kudos to some of the young designers who surpassed expectations with their gender fluid clothing collections. Some of the outstanding designers across both days were Minali, Narthalea (her take on war time gas masks was fab), Ruth,  Ruwanthi, Amila, Sudarika, Pubudu, Dulmi and Kanishka. The prestigious opportunity to show their work at  GFW London was won by Nishaka Hettiarachchi who won the GFW award. The Shilanthi Abayagunwardhana Textile Design scholarship was won by Nawodha Bandara while Sithma Illangasinghe won the Fashion Design scholarship. AOD ALUMI Ruth Weerasinghe and Ruwanthi Gajadeera were also honoured for their wins in the international arena.