Bridal Fair 2009 at SLECC on Thursday

by Ananda KANNANGARA

The much awaited Sri Lanka's number one fashion show "The Bridal Fair- 2009 " will be opened at the Sri Lanka Exhibition and Convention Centre (SLECC) on July 9, 11 and 12.

According to organisers, over 200 participants will take part in fashion and bridal shows during the three days.

The Sunday Observer the media sponsor for the Fair interviewed the 'evergreen' fashion designer, Chula Nanayakkara Ariyaratne who will present the bridal elegance on July 9 at the fashion show.

Chula said her bridal show would demonstrate her talents in the art of embellishing `women' into `beautiful women'!

She said participants could see a bride, a bridegroom, a bestman, a bride's maid and three flower girls in unusual colour and style. "They climb the stage, stroll the catwalk and step down like a real bride!", she elaborated.

After the inauguration of the bridal show, three beautiful models who were trained by her will perform dance to the tune of the favourite Sinhala song Peradiga Mutuetayai which was originally sung by Sri Lanka's singing sensation Latha Walpola.

"My sole objective is to give a helping hand to new fashion designers at the forthcoming show by providing them a platform to display their inborn talents," she said.

A past pupil of Visakha Vidyalaya, Chula Nanayakkara Ariyaratne started her career at the age of 14 by dressing a bride and in the past five decades she has held a large number of bridal and fashion shows.

Over these five golden decades, Chula has been the `Queen of Fashions' whenever models showed off her designs not only at glittering fashion shows in Colombo, but also in several foreign countries like London, Sydney, Chennai and Kuala Lampur.

She also expects to conduct similar fashion and bridal shows in several European countries shortly.

Chula proudly says the fashion show that was conducted by her in London under the theme "Api Wenuwen Api" was highly commended by almost all Sri Lankans domiciled in the UK. It was a charity show, for the benefit of our soldiers.

Chula on the "Sunday Observer Fashion Designer of the Year Contest" to be held in October 2009 at the BMICH, said

"I wish to demonstrate various designs of sports wear, office wear, evening and saree wear at the show." As the presenter of the contest, Chula also welcomed interested designers and models to take part in the contest.

She also thanked Veena Perera of Supreme Flora for providing the bouquets.

SLECC, Executive Director Shanthi Outschoorn said that a large number of fashion and bridal shows were held at the SLECC during the past 13 years and the objective of holding such shows was to give the younger generation the opportunity to expose their talents by taking part in such fashion and bridal shows.