The Perfect Finish: Featuring Duduchava

1.Tell us a bit about your brand? Duduchava means a visionary; someone with an untamable imagination, a dreamer. Our brand creates resort-wear clothing and accessories, made out of locally-fetched pure silks and cottons. 

2.When did you launch your brand? Duduchava was launched on the 29th of February 2020 at the Palagama beach festival. We also have an ethnic pop-up series called ‘Bantam Boutique’, which travels around the island appearing at design markets, music festivals and wherever we feel our followers may gather at. 

3.Was Fashion Designing your first career choice? I hail from a family of dressmakers, and as a kid I grew up around my mother's sewing machine. I was taught cutting and stitching by my grandmother at a very early age. All this exposure made me pursue my higher education in fashion. I know at one point or the other, I did ponder over a possible career in theatre, however my true passion was always in design. 

4.What has been the highlight of your career so far? Mercedes Benz Fashion Week 2017. This was the first collection I showcased at a Fashion Show. It was a collection of handcrafted fabric and design of contemporary resort wear. 

5.What has been your favorite collection so far and why? Our Home Wear collection was quite significant for the brand as it was launched amidst the pandemic in 2020. The Home Wear collection was dedicated to the ‘new normal’ that we were forced to adopt during the COVID-19 pandemic, that kept us all indoors. We designed a range of convenient, comfortable, cotton clothing suitable for both outdoor and indoor, with a discounted price tag. It was a challenging project, yet we were able to launch it successfully.  

6.Name four individuals in Sri Lanka who in your opinion are amongst the Best Dressed? Kumar Sangakkara, Swarna Mallawarchchi, Ramani Fernando and my sister.

7.Name one person you would like to dress / style? I think someone who represents Sri Lanka on the international theatre stage or cinema. 

8.What's your personal style mantra? Attire created using handcrafted materials and anything ethnic. 

9.One item of clothing you can't live without? Plain-white fitted t-shirt.

10.What inspires you when you design a new collection? In terms of a tangible inspiration, I pick the most recent memory of any incident and build my fantasy or story around it. 

11.What's your next collection for Spring / Summer 2021? A handcrafted collection with a new, interesting color-palette and for the first time a menswear collection.  

12.A Sri Lankan or International designer you admire? Issey Miyake. 

13.What do you love about being a Fashion Designer? The liberty and freedom to explore my creativity and bring my imaginations to life. 

14.What is 'Fashion' to you? It is an aesthetical expression of what you believe. Fashion has very little to do with apparel, I look at it as a restless movement regardless of age, gender or demography. 

15.What was the biggest rookie mistake you made when just starting out? Trying to do everything on my own; design, create, retail, advertise and so on!