Lankan designer competes at Triumph Inspiration Award in Beijing

Yasanthi Jayasinghe walks with her model Nicole.

Fashion and design students from 31 countries and regions around the world, presented their showpieces to the world in a fabulous catwalk show at the Triumph Inspiration Award ‘08 in Beijing.

An inspiring expert judging panel, consisting of the Dutch design due Viktor and Rolf; Danish top model Helena Christensen; German fashion photography icon Ellen von Unwerth; colette’s chief purchaser and creative director Sarah from Colettee, and chinese top model and actress LV Yan together with Triumph’s Jan Rosenberg, came to the decision which design piece deserves to be called the most inspired, and inspiring, of them all in 2008.

Awarded their prizes by gold-medallist Linford Christie and actress Michelle Lee, the show was a true spectacle in pre-Olympic Beijing. representing Sri Lanka in this was 22 yr old Yasanthi Jayasinghe from the Academy of Design.

She won the Sri Lankan national final held in May this year, beating 30 other talented Sri Lankan designers.

Yasanthi’s final creation was named ‘Transformed Beauty’. The bra and the brief was made mostly out of coconut based material. The bra cups were made out of transformed coconut shells and the bra straps were made out of coconut bristle using an ancient weaving technique.

The coconut shell cups were carved with traditional Sri Lankan flower motifs and the carvings were further inked inside to highlight the engraved effect. Each engraved flower had a tiny light bulb in the middle which lit up like diamonds.