Graduation Fashion Show 2006

Prasad Abu Bakr

FASHION: In the country's wake of setting itself a free trade zone in the late 70s, a number of discrepancies began to surface as the move of doing so was a novel experience. The entire gambit was set loose with the minimum scrutiny through finer detail, which could have enhanced the movement's onward march from day one if those unexpected shortcomings were initially studied in-depth.

The Garment Industry which gained much attention and favour for the large employment opportunities it offered instantly upon coming into being, it too became only an assembling component as in the network of many other industries that became involved in import and export at the time.

During most of those years it was only normal that almost everything that made up those garments came from principal companies that re-imported the finish product; so Sri Lanka became only an assembling destination to the large scale import-export market that flourished during the first half of the Free Trade Zone existence.

It was not an easy task to find qualified staff to fill in the many positions that came into existence within the free trade network.

The English language being out of use in schools for over 20 years reflected dangerously beside the working knowledge and the ability of personnel to be able to grasp techniques and job knowledge too became important cogs in the wheel for the free trade day to day operations.

Prof. Lakdas Fernando who tediously worked towards enhancing the Bachelor of Design Degree course at the Department of Textile & Clothing Technology of the University of Moratuwa in 1989 managed to steer his ideas into action and in 2001 the collaboration with the London College of Fashion bore fruit.

Since then the effort has proven to be seen as a massive result oriented move that successfully combined with the Sri Lankan clothing industry and its allied partners.

According to Dr. Frances Corner, the present Head of the London School of Fashion, who attended this year's graduation ceremony held at the Galle Face Hotel recently, the demand within the garment industry for this kind of expertise is growing and to match that the number of students for the next batch in 2007 has shot up to 43, a marked increase by 17 students in comparison to the present number that has graduated this year.

Dr. Corner said that in contrast to the present programme where students are pruned to take over jobs in the technical aspect of the garment trade, which lacks heavily in these areas and has demand for locals qualified in it, the course will intensify the creative aspect on the long run which will enable graduates to spend more time at experimenting and developing even designs based on local motifs and aspirations.

Graduates passing out on completion of the present course at the university will replace the import of specially various consultants that has been brought in at massive costs to do their job here.

Since the course is still only as young as six years and has only seen a handful of students taking wing as fully fledged graduates arming themselves with the vast technical knowledge that the industry calls for beside their flare and ability to create, it will have to carry on for a little more than a few more years if it is to showcase more accentuated results within the Sri Lankan clothing industry.

Both batches, the first in 2005 and the present set of graduates came under the baton of Carmel Kelly who works as the projects consultant and at present is also the Principal Lecturer of the course.

Her long term dedication towards this operation has proven to bear positive results in the long run. Course Director Dr. Nirmali de Silva too has served as an important contributor to these event, the Daily News has learnt.

This year's event, according to many observers, has afforded the students a wider margin at displaying their flare for creative design; though it must be stated, as a personal note that much more can be achieved in that area in the future.

The collections presented showed that students have been briefed thoroughly on colour combinations, body constructions and the discipline to work within a theme be it colour line or patterning.

But sometimes it was visible that the patterns within a collection steered away from style identity. Not being able to hold on to a style identification will and can reflect badly on building a recognisable image as a designer, what this business of fashion design is all about all over the world.

The Tee-shirt serial which came as the opener to the major presentation, brought out a novel series of designs to the world's most casual fashion favourite amongst both young and old.

Nishadi Wasala's Mix and Match collection came in as a vibrant note to the show. 'Casual women's wear for spring/summer 2007. Mixing ethnic embroideries in rusty rich red tones' is how the designer has introduced her collection.

Soft cottons, silk fabrics and similar constructions were used by Nishadi who underwent her internship as a trainee assistant designer at the Hirdaramani Group.

"It was a very valuable experience as it intensified my knowledge in most aspects of the garment trade and technique," the designer states, adding that her collection was targeted at the US premium level department stores, eyeing the 'Neiman Marcus' as a diffusion brand. Under the Chinese/American designer label 'Anna Sui'.

Saroja Jayalath who underwent her internship as a trainee designer at Dilly's Fashions (Pvt) Ltd created an interesting collection which reflected her vision for the 'Embellished Hippie'.

Inspired by the embroidery techniques, body paintings and materials used by the 'Samburu' tribe of Africa, came out tuned into a rhythm of style.

The maternity wear collection for 'Victoria's Secret' came as a surprise. Designer Yojani Upanada, who was trained at MAS Holdings brought in a lot of romance to her collection firstly by sticking to fabrics of languid and soft construction and using loads of white with touches of cardinal red with a bit of shimmer and shine thrown in.

Out of the few designers that presented men's wear, Sumit C. Gopura brought out a stunning line that put in place a playful combination of colour more on a mix n' match basis. The designer has boldly described his collection as 'Feminization of men's wear'. His collection targets the retail outlet OKI-NI, which is an independent London based design group.

'Hidden Feathers' by Charith Senadheera with the emphasis on black and white combinations and a lot of 'Fabric Welding', as the designer calls it. Cotton, linen and foam fabrics were used and blended to create an impact reflecting echoing shapes taken from American Indian design concepts.

The awards of the event which was presented as a result of scrutiny of the students work by a panel of judges went to other collections than the ones mentioned above. The decisions were surely based on many practical thoughts that one would expect from a panel of judges of that nature.

The four awards that were won reflected clothes that were more in the ready to wear category and more commercially viable and had market value.

The award presented to Ranil R. Manawadu for his collection 'Just like Twiggy, more than Twiggy' which was a show stopper, deserved to have won. Manawadu's playful attitude conveyed through his designs made an impression of happiness and youth.

All the 20 graduates that obtained their degree in 2005 have all found employment in the industry. Selected students can also find themselves following short work placements in London or New York and also two placements are available per year for Post Graduate studies, a Masters Course at the London College of Fashion.

The London College of Fashion which is a part of the University of Arts London, which comprises five colleges of arts, design and communication. The college has a mammoth 4500 students passing through annually.

Covering a wide range of subjects the College has students undertaking courses that teaches Merchandising, Fashion Photography and Illustration, fashion research programmes apart from career courses in fashion designing are also available.

Short courses are also available to people from within the industry who seek to sharpen their skills. These courses are mostly sought by Asians already in the garment trade. The College conducts courses through a university in Istanbul and also works as a consultant to universities in China and maintains links with leading fashion institutes and colleges in Paris.

Today the import oriented free trade policies that were in operation over the years since it came in to being in 1977 is looking more inwards and is curbing certain goods from entering the country at a whim.

Garments which was always a front runner of the free trade game shows signs of remaining so, not so much as an export oriented product but more in the local sense, taking into consideration the fact that the demand for fashion wear within the country has also almost doubled during the past five years.

With many of the garment factories closing down and the business turning less lucrative after the West has shifted its interest to countries like China, other than the larger factories that can import their expertise from the West owing to their links with international franchise holders, the others will have to depend on more streamlined methods of gaining advice on design, merchandising and other related areas of the process.

The present degree that is on offer at the Department of Textile and Clothing Technology at the Moratuwa University in this regard will go a long way taking into consideration all the above facts and changes that have changed the face of the trade.

Looking back at the happenings in the 'fashion scene' here, which can be referred to as a non-entity, all what we have seen over the years are creations by designers who copy the West for style and ape it for their shows.

With a more streamlined course of this nature at least it can be expected that with the formal training that these students receive, they can make it an eye-opener to use those tools to bring in something of our own, specially design-wise.

While they launch themselves to face the global challenges that the apparel industry is bracing through, which is what this course is supposed to arm them with, let us hope that the Degree Course offered by the Department of Textile and Clothing Technology, which is totally government funded, serve also as a launching pad for young designers to show their skills in international fashion markets through designs and styles with a bit of Sri Lanka identity as well.

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