THE FASHION STATEMENT

Ruwini JAYAWARDANA

The world of fashion, they say, never stands still. New trends burst into the scene and in a blink of an eye you are engulfed by a new wave of fashion. These exquisite creations that leave us breathless start off as a vague sketch born in a few creative minds and take form on a sketchpad. When colourful materials are chosen, matched and stitched fantasy comes alive before your eyes.

Dress designing was not a known profession of yesteryear but today it is one of the most attractive professions of the era. You not only have a whale of a time indulging on exploring your imagination but you even earn money while doing so.

Kanchana Talpawila is a dress designer who churns out ideas blending the best of the East and West with skill and great expertise.

Born and bred in Colombo as the youngest in a family of three, Kanchana schooled at Museaus College. Her mother, Lily Talpawila, was engaged which was renowned for in flower decorations and making bridal bouquets. She had also been involved with the first ever bridal show in the country in the late 19650s and Kanchana believes that she had inherited the creative and innovative nature of her mother.

“Fashion designing was not in the limelight those days. The papers hardly paid any attention to the field and nobody really knew whether such a thing existed. My sister was a very good friend of leading designer and choreographer, Senaka de Silva and when she was going to get married we visited him. I got a chance to feast my eyes on some of his sketches and they left me breathless. It inspired me to try my hands on sketching a few creations,” Kanchana recalled.

She had studied bio-science for her Advanced Level and many predicted that she will take up a conventional profession but a competition, funded by Pugoda Textiles and organised by the Lions Club of Cinnamon Gardens, to select the Dress Designer of the Year decided her future for her.

“It was a stepping stone for young designers. I clinched the title in 1990 by winning six out of the seven categories. My creations were basics as I had no designing background at that time. We had to choose the fabric provided by them and design the garments,” she explained adding that there were a number of participants .

Trendy black comes alive

“The contestants were selected after scrutinising our applications. We were called for an interview where we had to sketch a design in front of them. They selected around 30 and and later it was cut down to seven.”

Kanchana’s wish had been to join the London College of Fashion, one of the leading centres of fashion education in the world but her family was against her decision as they believed dress designing was not a recognised profession. She studied law at the Law College but never lost her passion to design. With fame came fortune. She got the opportunity to work on costumes in Wasantha Obeysekara’s film, Maruthaya and since then she has designed costumes for a string of films and teledramas like Juliet Ge Boomikawa, Sihina Deeshaya, Pavru Walalu, Sulanga Enu Pinisa, Wanaspathi and Ira Madiyama. Her recent contribution was for Vimukthi Jayasundera’s ‘Fallen from the Sky’.

“There is a growing interest on dress designing today. Many schools have been set up focusing on this field and a lot of information is available on the Web. People are more fashion conscious and they understand the subject better provided that they get the correct guidance to differentiate the good and the bad,” she said adding that there is a lot of attention towards creative cutting techniques.

She set up a fashion designing school in May where she trains her students on pattern cutting and designing clothes. She is also teaching the subject at a couple of private institutions and the University of Moratuwa. “There isn’t a focus on the technical side of dress designing. A lot of people still think it is drawing. If you can’t make your designs your talent is wasted. I believe it is important to have control even if you get somebody to sew it for you.”

According to Kanchana passion for creativity plays an important role in moulding a good fashion designer. Eagerness to learn, inquisitiveness and dedication are also essential.

”You cannot do one collection and think you have conquered. It is a very tedious process. The designers of today are looking back upon the previous veterans in the field. Works of Cristobal Balenciaga, French designer who introduced the baby doll dress, and Madeleine Vionette who found bias cutting made a deep impact on the fashion scene,” she said.

Kanchana’s inspirations derive from the East. Her goal is to design a proper collection but time has fallen short since she was busy with her school.

“I have not had many goals in life but I would like to continue my studies on dress designing. I wish to give something back to society and I hope I can achieve that goal by helping my students make their stitch in the field of fashion designing,” she said.