'Fashion Statement 06' had its moments of glory. But most of it came in form of good clothes (in certain segments), overall it raises questions with regard to quality of production and presentation.

This business of fashion

FASHION: It was a mega show that spectators were looking forward to and that fact still prevails. But the shortcomings that took place have opened many questions, especially in the minds of many present at the show that evening.

Organisers that get involved in these types of shows should also have a knowledge of what they are getting involved in.

Fashion shows here in Colombo are not a regular event. The money it can generate is very limited and production costs are high, owing to this reason most fashion and beauty pageants are tied up with charity. But how much of the monies actually remain for the purpose that the show was intended for after covering all costs? This is a question that has never been properly answered by people involved in organising these events.

Most of these shows are backed and organised by prestigious clubs and private member organisations, tickets are mostly sold within the membership. Whatever that is left are sold to the public and a certain number of tickets are complimentary among sponsors, co-sponsors and dignitaries of the upper ranks of the organisers.

There is a lot of meticulous planning that goes on during pre-production stages of these shows. But then how come proportionately large errors occur, as in the case what happened at 'Fashion Statement 2006'?

It should be realised that putting together shows of this nature needs a lot of teamwork and knowledge of presentation for them to become a total success. A total co-ordination is called for between the designer, choreographer, sound and light director and the compere.

All the above are important departments in any show and has to excel a high degree of finesse in each of them if the show is to look slick and run through un-falteringly to the end.

Long waits for segments to appear in sequence and faults in lighting and focusing upon in wrong places with the compere evidently dragging his narration to fill gaps created by designers working with a limited number of models than needed to cover the show, are all very, very poor occurrences that have to be avoided at all costs.

Designers should realise that their work play an important role in the show, in fact it is the most important one. Their involvement with other departments should be only to enhance their product, which means that they should allow those departments to operate individually. Today in Sri Lanka we have professionals covering all these fields and organisers and sponsors should make use of them.
A principal error at the above show was that the set designer has used metallic grey as the main colour to the background. It is by visual experience that it has been proven that all colours look best against white and at fashion presentations (where an array of designers presented their creations as in 'Fashion Statement 2006'
this rule serves well. Grey and beige are known by most colourists to reduce lustre of many other hues when put against them.
The metallic grey served well only in the case of the collection presented by Indian designer Wendell Rodricks. This was owing to the simple theory that he worked his collection out into individual black and white components.

The metallic grey worked well with the collection, which was the best in any case that evening (very contemporary and tailored in fluid lines).

Even out-fits in other collections at the show sparkled (most of the Indian designers had a lot of glitter and shine in their creations) only after the models walked out in to the catwalk from the main stage (out of the grey backdrop).

Designer Lou Ching Wong's collection in pastel and pale was drowned in despair surrounded in metallic grey.

The styling too was set more to theatre than to the wearable quality of clothes, which the Indian designers harped mostly upon.

It will serve us well if our designers showcase clothes that consist certain characteristics of this country rather than attempt to tune into western trends totally and occupy a back seat in the presence of the visitors' dynamism in presenting their un-faltered cultural identity, even though they are creating to western standards.

Fashion shows here are treated mostly as entertainment. Designers have no retail market as ready-to-wear shops are mushrooming, offering the fashion conscious public a wide range to choose from. It is a regular happening that most aspiring designers end up dressing brides.

This is because it pays well and the easiest market to get into; owing to the high scale in under-cutting of prices that prevail.

We have less than a handful of designers that can actually put a well coordinated collection which can be practical from all angles, wearability, price and look good on the ramp as well.

Though we have a number of fashion institutes that offer graduation courses we are yet to see results that we can harp much about. What is noticeable about some of these graduation shows put up by these institutes is that the word 'Fashion' is identified mostly with gimmickry and fantasy.

At the early stages of learning fashion design gimmickry and fantasy both are essential parts in the process of expressing one's creative mind visually.

Those elements should be used only to break loose of any inhibitions that has set upon a young students mind with regard to clothes and conservative dressing.

Most of the Indian designers present at 'Fashion Statement 2006' presented 'wearable fashion'. Beside Wendell Rodricks, Falguni and Shane Peacock together with Deepika Gehani were some of them.

Our own Madri Jayasekara and Nishika Samaratunga, the two young designers showed a lot of promise through the small number that they put forward on the ramp that evening.

The two title holders of Miss India for Miss Universe and Miss India for Miss World added prestige to the show while Rozanne Diasz, Sri Lanka's representative at the Miss Universe contest who failed in that department exalted the catwalk that evening overshadowing even the so called top models of India that were present.

Hair and make-up by Lou Ching Wong was of a very high standard and combined in a big way to all the good points of 'Fashion Statement 06'.
