It was possibly the very first time that a top-end French couturier was in Colombo, and in an official capacity at that. The event was the first-ever Sri Lanka Apparel Fair Fashion Show. The venue was Hotel Lanka Oberoi. The date was somewhere in October 1990. The Chief Guest was Pierre Cardin, here on invitation by the Clothing and Footwear Institute (CFI) Sri Lanka.
Ranked among the five best known Frenchmen in the world since 1960, Pierre Cardin was born on 2 July 1922 and educated in central France. Arriving in Paris in 1945, he worked for Paquin, Schiaparelli, Christian Berard, and Christian Dior until he founded his own company in 1950, designing masks and costumes for theatre. Cardin presented his first-ever women’s collection in 1953 and there was no turning back.
Colombo predictably went agog when news spread that Cardin was on a whistle stop visit, the highlight of which was the gala soirée at Lanka Oberoi. There were also a few ancillary events, among which was a visit to the Apparel Fair Exhibition and also to the Alliance Française.
The numerous stall holders were honoured by his presence at their stalls. Cameras clicked and a lot of ink flowed as autographs were signed on any available and writable surface.
Making her (pre-planned) casual appearance at the exhibition was oh là là Yvonne Gulamhusein (bless her soul) who “casually bumped into Mr. Cardin”. They both hit the headlines in the following days’ newspapers: “France’s King of Couture meets Sri Lanka’s Queen of Fashion.” It was nothing short of that. Talking to Bonsoir, Yvonne spoke about the space age fashions which Cardin had created in the 1960s. She recalled wearing some of them which later ended up as exhibits in the Victoria Albert Museum in London.
I was lucky to have got one of the very few, if not the only, exclusive interview with Monsieur Cardin. He knew how to perform to the camera. He looked at me, listened to the question intently, turned to the camera, rattled off his answer in impeccable English, turned to me again… and waited for the next question. This went on in swift succession and we were done.
Then came his visit to the Alliance Francaise where he met students and “guests from Colombo society”, sharing his views and exchanging ideas about haute couture. This was a very friendly exercise, which at one point took a sour turn when the old boy sat in judgement and declared that the sari was not a fashion item! That sent our ladies into a near-rage with tempers rising and an argument looming ahead. The organisers, however, managed to troubleshoot it down before it got out of hand and poor Cardin was whisked away with the same speed with which he was brought.
The highlight of Cardin’s visit to Sri Lanka was the gala fashion show at the Atrium Lobby in the evening. There was excitement backstage as Senaka de Silva and team handled makeup and dressed the male and female models. Everybody who was a “somebody” was there… waiting with bated breath as some of Sri Lanka’s top designers prepared to showcase their collections.
Among them were Kirthi Sri Karunaratne with his intricate beeralu (pillow lace) collection, Chrysanthi Fernandopulle with her dazzling batiks, Mangala Innocence with his avant-garde designs, Lou Ching Wong, and Lillian Pereira. Pirouetting and sashaying on the catwalk were Colombo’s supermodels at that time – Otara Gunewardene, Roshanara de Silva, Judy Martin, Nishamani De Silva, and Sylvana Nicholas, among others. They all did Sri Lanka proud!
At that time, Bonsoir had only one camera. We were in a quandary as to how we could get different angles of the show. Chinthananda Abeysekera hit upon the brilliant idea that we get angles from the different balconies around the atrium. We managed to block an elevator to ourselves. And we ran… in and out of the elevator… up and down… from side to side… from floor to floor… getting angles and more angles and even more angles.
Chintha spun his magic at the editing table. The final programme telecast on ITN on Monday, 19 November 1990 gave the impression of at least five cameras at work. Only we knew how we literally ran miles that evening, as the models trotted on the catwalk, to get those shots. To say that we were sore on our feet would be an understatement!
PS: The Hi!! magazine didn’t exist at that time but the newspapers went to town. Colombo society knew how to “pause and pose” (at times even “push and pose”) for the battery of press photographers! That’s a fine art which gets perfected with every passing social “do”.
The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect those of this publication.