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University of the Visual and Performing Arts Faculty of Visual Arts Dean Jagath Ravindra, NTB Marketing Assistant Vice President Cards Zamani Zainudeen, Galle Face Hotel Sales and Marketing Director Mubarak Gaffoor, Shangri-La Hotel Colombo Vice President and GM Timothy Wright, Liquid Island Brand-Olu Tropical Water CEO Shalindera Fernando, Colombo Fashion Week Founder and MD Ajai Vir Singh, SLTPB Chairman Kishu Gomes, Hilton Colombo Commercial Cluster Director Christopher Zappia, Ramani Fernando Salons Founder Ramani Fernando, Coca Cola Sri Lanka and Maldives Country Marketing Director Mario Perera and Unilever Sri Lanka Category Head – Hair and Skin Care Mihira Kulathunga – Pic by Sameera Wijesinghe
By Charumini de Silva
Sri Lanka will hold a week-long creative festival titled ‘Celebrate Colombo’ inclusive of art, fashion, food and music in early August to demonstrate peace and return to normalcy after Easter Sunday attacks.
Celebrate Colombo, from 3 to 10 August, is a destination promotion tourism-based event, which positively showcases Colombo as a vibrant entertainment city, while also enhancing the experience of the modern travellers, organisers said yesterday.
The very creation of this festival will be the first on-ground demonstration that there is peace and normalcy after the unfortunate Easter Sunday attacks.
A key highlight of the series of events is the fifth CFW Swim Week Colombo, from 8 to 10 August. Presented by Olu Tropical Water the show will proudly unveil its exciting new season in showcasing swimwear trends for the year 2020. This season Swim Week Colombo will showcase the latest collections from nine dynamic Sri Lankan designers along with seven emerging designers and five international designers.
Sri Lanka Tourism and Promotion Bureau (SLTPB) is backing the initiative as part of efforts to fast track the revival of tourism post East Sunday attacks.
“Celebrate Colombo is a progressive and a unique platform to showcase the creative industries of Sri Lanka from a tourism perspective and positioning the city of Colombo as a vibrant and creative city. CFW Swim Week leads this creative celebration. I thought bringing all these things together would create an interesting opportunity to create a strong impact. Swim Week Colombo is in itself a platform that not only focuses on strategic fashion development of the Swimwear and Luxury Resort Wear category, but it complements and showcases Sri Lanka,” CFW Founder and Managing Director Ajai Vir Singh told journalists yesterday.
Swim Week Colombo was established in 2015 with the vision of creating a global platform for swimwear and positioning Sri Lanka as the swimwear capital of the world. It is Asia›s first fashion week dedicated to swimwear and resort wear, which in itself highlights the destination of Colombo.
He also said that to increase the strength of media impact they have invited people of important stature from Bollywood to cricketers to celebrities from native countries. However, the names will be revealed in few more weeks after confirmation, he added.
“This is the biggest event we have done,” he pointed out.
In addition Singh said an art exhibition with the participation of unprecedented 40 established and emerging Sri Lankan artists will collaborate on a never-before-seen project which embodies the spirit of Sri Lanka. “These artists have come together to paint a huge canvas on the theme ‘One-Won’. The creative industry of art will come together for the first time to express a strong voice of unity, peace and the exhibit will be on display for a week at The Stables at Park Street Mews,” he stressed.
Sri Lanka is renowned globally for its world-class swimwear manufacturing capabilities, having engineered and produced swimwear for some of the world›s finest swimwear brands. This existing knowledge and expertise, along with Sri Lanka›s strategic position as an island with world-famous beaches and holiday attractions, lends the country the potential to become a global swimwear hub.
Given the fact that tourism is one of the most competitive industries in the world, SLTPB Chairman Kish Gomes said it was critical to have mega scale international events to further elevate Sri Lanka’s identity and product portfolio to succeed that competitive edge to attract modern-day global travellers.
“Recovery to me is easier than competing against the rest of the destinations because tourism is becoming even more competitive by the day. We got to compete in an $8 trillion industry and that demands this kind of very impactful, mega scale, international events,” he added.
Noting that CFW Swim Week Colombo is a powerful brand that has garnered a lot of international attention, Gomes said as Sri Lanka Tourism they would like to see more and more such events happening in Sri Lanka.
“Unless we grow tourism to $8 to $10 billion over the next five years’ time the country will not be able to offer the life people deserve. It is imperative to come together, to support each other and coordinate to reach the desired goal for the entire nation,” he pointed out.
As Sri Lanka Tourism embarks on an optimistic journey, not just to recover from the setback but to exponentially grow the industry; Gomes said Celebrate Colombo will undoubtedly help the country to us regain the confidence of global travellers in a compelling way.
This year, Swim Week Colombo›s runway shows will be hosted by three hotel partners, namelyShangri-La Hotel Colombo, Hilton Colombo and Galle Face Hotel.
More than 20 designers, both local and international are set to showcase over a period of four days. Some of the international designers include Wendell Rodricks, Studio Verandah, Aqua BIu, and Rena Singh. The Sri Lankan designers list will feature Darshi Keerthisena, Meraki, Sonali Dharmawardena, Pigeon Island, and Maus, among others.
A Food Festival will take place with partner restaurants and hotels packing a flavourful variety of events throughout the week. There will also be a Music Extravaganza which will add to the celebration and pockets of live music events will dot the city during the week›s festivities.
CFW Fashion Films will be back once again to showcase the power of creativity when two visual streams such as fashion and film come together, CFW Fashion Films has established itself as a platform to merge the creative talents of both designers and young film directors to communicate their outstanding vision and creative depth. To round up the week with a finale to these events, Celebrate Colombo will conclude with a spectacular themed after-party at Cafe Francais.
Swim Week Colombo has formed relevant and strategic partnerships with Sri Lanka›s leading brands and they all play an important role in pushing the annual event to the international level. Olu Tropical Water as Title Partner; Nations Trust Bank American Express as the Official Fashion Card; Shangri-La Colombo, Hilton Colombo and Galle Face Hotel as the Official Hospitality Partners; Jaguar Land Rover Sri Lanka as the Official Automobile Partner; Vaseline as the Official Skin Care partner; MAS Linea Aqua as the Official Manufacturing Partner; Wine World as the Official Lifestyle Beverage Partner; Ramani Fernando as the Official Hair and Make-Up Partner.
It also has Vision Care as the Official Fashion Eyewear Partner; Coca Cola Sri Lanka Ltd., Taj Samudra Colombo, Park Street Mews and Dutch Hospital Shopping Precinct as Official Food Festival Partners; The Faculty of Art at the University of Colombo as the Official Art Exhibit Partner; Wijeya Newspapers as the Official Print Media Partner; Mullenlowe Sri Lanka as the Official PR Partner; and Emerging Media as the Official Outdoor Digital Media Partner. All of these entities share and extend their support towards the vision and aspirations of Swim Week Colombo.
