Valentine's day Hoardings for Dilly's 2012

Night wear hoarding for flower road

Night wear hoarding for Buller's road

Valentine's hoarding- Night wear 2011

My interview for Soul magazine

To read click on the link below
http://www.nation.lk/edition/soul/item/871-design-for-a-purpose

Oh btw, I bagged the title! :)

I was awarded for best sports wear and for the best bridal couture and then I was awarded as the Up and Coming Designer of the Year 2011! :D The little shock waves running up and down through my spine still remain after the big victory. So you can imagine how excited I was then. ;-)

http://sundaytimes.lk/111127/Plus/plus_14.html 

http://dailymirror.lk/entertainment/151-entertainment-main/14982-sri-lanka-picks-an-up-a-coming-designer-for-2011.html?tmpl=component&layout=default&page= 

My passion other than fashion

Sports wear

I got an opportunity to not only be able to reflect my personal fashion taste in my work but also to perfectly combine two of my favourite elements in life together at the finale, which was Fashion and man’s best friend! So I took the initiative of designing an outfit not just for my model but also for Guy, a German Sheppard for the sports segment. He was like the most adorable thing ever! Sigh! :)

As they walked on the ramp together, the audience was silent with surprise and then there was loud cheer and applause for they were evidently thrilled to watch the pair.

 It was a great experience making friends with the other talented designers and not forgetting Zainab Ammarah who had been there to support and guide us throughout the whole competition and also I’d like to thank my models Ina and Guy, (The German Shephard) trained by Mr. Prasad Devasurendra, who did a great job on the ramp. So the experience I gained working with each and everyone one of them was indeed beyond words!

Images of the show

Sketches for the Up and Coming Designer of the Year 2011

I think this program was definitely the perfect opportunity I had, to express my individuality as a designer and also showcase my work in a more precise way with regard to the theme that was given, which was 'Around the world'. I was just so excited about the theme because, you know why! The theme was so me! So each designer had to pick a country and due to my undying love for the Russian costumes I thought why not Russia encore?!! :)

                              My Sketches (Not completed though, summer resort's still to come!) :P

Cocktail wear

Bridal

Sports wear

Final collection for the graduation show

                                                       

My favourite red dress

             

'The Russian Sarafan' that took me on a long journey and ended up with nothing but victory.

So during my last year in college doing my BA(hons) in fashion we had to prepare for our final collection by the beginning of the year itself. So there began all the researching, sketching and reading all kinds of fashion forecasts...and finally I picked up a theme somewhat similar to what I did for the HND collection, but this time it was different! I thought I'd go more to the free flow y and colourful side of it. So I thought of the Russian national costume 'The Sarafan'. Loved the embroideries, the colours, the free feel of it and the beautiful thread works, pearls they had used to accessorize the head wear (The kokoshnik). It's just too beautiful to describe.

Aikido Hakama

Pretty interesting ha? Here are images of the entire costume, the samurai armour which was one of my other inspirations just to add a little shimmer to my outfits and a few shots I was able to find of my final collection.

During my years of HND, the collection I did for my final show was inspired by the Samurai's traditional costume which was a combination of a pleated pant named the 'Hakama' and the top, the 'Kataginu vest'. The 'Hakama' was known to have seven pleats (five in the front and two in the back) and these were known to represent the seven virtues of budo (martial arts);
Jin: benevolence
Gi: honor or justice
Rei: courtesy and etiquette
Chi: wisdom, intellligence
Shin: sincerity
Chu: loyalty
Koh: pietya 

Costumes from all over the world

Beautiful aren't they?

China

Japan

Burma

India

Scotland

Kazan (Russia)

Vietnam

Culture to Style

I love transforming whatever traditional garments I come across when I’m researching, in to every day wearable clothes without having the need to follow a complicated procedure that is beyond the ability of many young women who usually have to ask their mothers to help them to dress up. I’ve been thinking of ways to make it look less complicated, comfortable yet fashionable by applying contemporary details and structural elements in to them without straying too much away from traditions because, I find it very interesting how different costumes have these interesting silhouettes, details, trims and colour combinations they have used to bring out their nationality through their clothes. It’s amazing! So I think I prefer preserving the traditional feel to it but at the same time add a modern twist to them.

Going ethnic

Well, speaking of my interest in fashion first of all let me tell you about one of the areas I am really interested in, as a designer I love to research on new things mostly about different countries and learn about their culture, traditions, languages, what they wear, what they eat, their lifestyle etc. basically every teeny little detail I think that’s interesting is likely to be a part of one of my collections.

Gucci-fall 08

Roberto Cavalli Spring/Summer 2011

 So basically I am most likely to be inspired by traditional clothing of different countries which always carry a special meaning. Though this may sound a bit boring at first once you really start observing the beautiful details of these garments you can do miracles with them. Just like how these designers have ended up with fantastic collections.

Etro

Design and self satisfaction :)

What I mostly enjoy about designing is that apart from the fact that you don’t have to pay anyone else to get a dress made, it feels great to get in to one of your own designs and also the fact that it’s DESIGNING!!! It’s where you can express yourself as a designer and most importantly when you see people wearing your designs you know you’re being appreciated for your work. So the feeling is inexpressible. It’s actually a lot fun too. :)

Toiles!

Designing actually fulfills my creative interests and is something that I love to be a part of which is why I’m here blogging about my entire experiences and achievements I’ve gained along the way. The most interesting part about it is when you have to research, analyze and evaluate data and ideas, whenever you have to update yourself and look up for a theme for a certain collection. Especially on areas that you’re not quite familiar with, which would help you to expand and broaden your mind on new things. The biggest challenges I have had to face in my work were to sew the toiles to match with my illustrations whenever it didn’t turn out the way I expected it to. However, sometimes expecting the unexpected helps if it turns out better than what you have imagined. It can be defined as the development stage where we work on our designs to develop them in to a much better standard. Of course with practice anything is achievable besides it’s impossible to carry on without having to face certain pitfalls and problems in the middle of your work but it’s also fun to tackle these problems with calm logic and a sense of humour of course, because ultimately once you’re completed with your designs and you look at it, you know all the hard work has definitely paid off.

Sketches and more sketches!

                                                                   Colour me wild

                                                              Alexander Wang Fall '09