New
look sarees
South Asian women love their traditional dress but want more
modern ways of wearing  it,
discovered young designer Kosala Kannangara (inset) who conducted
a survey among expatriate Sri Lankan women in the 20 to 40 year
age group in New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and
Western Australia.
These
women, both students and professionals, she found, enjoyed
wearing smart clothes with an 'Oriental twist' for special
occasions so that they would be distinctive without being
ostentatious.
A 2000-year
tradition is not something which can be tossed away, she said
in an interview with an Australian newspaper, but with many
of the women in the workforce, they want something which is
better suited to modern living conditions. This prompted her
to think of designing different, more comfortable, easy to
wear saree drapes.
A student
of the Canberra Institute of Technology, Kosala unveiled her
innovative saree collection using much less fabric and sarees
made up of three panels; the fall, the frill and the bottom.
She also designed sarongs and Western style garments, all
of distinctive and colourful fabric from Barefoot at a successful
show of Sri Lankan fashions titled 'Rhythm of My Display'
which was attended by Sri Lanka's High Commissioner in Australia
Major General Janaka Perera and Ms. Perera.
Kosala
went to Australia in 1999 to fulfil her dream of becoming
a fashion designer and began her studies at the Royal Melbourne
Institute of Technology for a diploma in clothing manufacture.
She has now graduated with a Bachelor of Fashion degree in
Canberra and plans to return to Sri Lanka to pursue her career
and hopefully, she says, to set up her own fashion school.
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