• The story of La Lovely

Fashion has always been one of the most human forms of expression. Whether it be avant-garde outfits on parade at the Met Gala or well designed clothes for everyday use, fashion has played an important part in shaping society. 

In a world increasingly shaped by fast fashion, a mother-daughter duo in Colombo are working to bring tailoring back into focus. Their business, ‘La Lovely’, is built on the idea that clothing should be personal, expressive, and made to fit the individual, not the other way around. 

“Tailored clothes, speaking of itself, always stand out because they are made for you,” La Lovely Secretary Yasangavi Kailasakugan told The Daily Morning Brunch. Kailasakugan operates La Lovely along with her mother, Laavanya, who founded the business back in 2023 as a tailoring and design company.

As trends become more disposable, they are positioning tailoring as something that is both a craft and a service that will continue to evolve.

A craft honed through constraint

La Lovely’s foundation comes from Laavanya’s experience. Unable to continue her studies due to family restrictions and the impact of the civil war, she found alternative ways to build a future. Rather than abandoning her ambitions, she persevered. She completed a versatile diploma that covered tailoring, fashion design, designer cake baking and bouquet making which are skills that balanced creativity with practicality.

When she moved to Colombo, she entered the workforce through a tailor shop, using what she had learned to support herself. “Tailoring being the art that kept her fed, she built her career on it over the years,” Kailasakugan  said. 

What began as necessity evolved into long-term specialisation. Years of consistent work allowed her to refine her technique and develop an instinctive understanding of fit, fabric, and form which are skills that now define La Lovely’s output. 

La Lovely did not scale through digital marketing or aggressive promotion but its growth was gradual and rooted in relationships. “Being the sole person behind the business, my mother’s primary marketing strategy for a long time was word of mouth. Once a client, always a client. About 90% of her current clients come through recommendations from her long-term clients.” Kailasakugan said.

That strategy remains largely unchanged, and this model reflects a different kind of business logic; one that prioritises retention over reach. Clients return because they trust the consistency of the work, and that trust translates into referrals.

The absence of heavy marketing also reinforces the brand’s positioning. La Lovely is not trying to be everywhere all at once; it is focused on being reliable for the people who come to it.

Championing tailoring in the age of fast fashion

Fast fashion has shifted how people consume clothing by prioritizing speed, affordability and trend cycles. While fast fashion brands like Temu and Shein have become popular among consumers across the world, concerns about sustainability and quality have made people reluctant to buy fast fashion. 

Rather than rejecting it outright, La Lovely acknowledges its influence. “When it comes to fast fashion, those trends serve as a great inspiration because designs come from great minds,” Kailasakugan explained.

However, she draws a clear distinction between inspiration and output, where fast fashion offers variety and tailoring offers precision. The value lies not just in appearance but in how the garment interacts with the wearer.

“I believe nothing beats the special feeling of having something specifically designed and catered to fit you and make you stand out as special,” she said. This positioning allows La Lovely to coexist with fast fashion rather than compete directly with it by offering an alternative for clients who want something more specific.

One of tailoring’s strongest advantages is its ability to accommodate real body diversity. Standard sizing often fails to account for variations in proportion, posture and preference. La Lovely approaches this through a combination of method and experience. “Everyone is unique in their own special way and every body type is unique. My mother uses a dual tool whenever possible by getting a best-fitting sample dress along with measurements of her clients,” Kailasakugan shared.

This approach reduces the margin of error that comes with relying on numbers alone. It also allows adjustments that are more nuanced. “All my mum’s  years of passionate work means she knows the tactics to tailor the product uniquely for the client,” she said. 

In this sense, tailoring becomes inherently inclusive. It adapts to the individual rather than expecting the individual to adapt to the garment.

From stability to growth

Currently operating as a home-based business, La Lovely has built a stable foundation. The next phase is expansion. “Our future plan is to establish a physical place under the business ‘La Lovely’ and make it go hand in hand with the ever-evolving field of fashion because tailor-made fits never go out of style,” she said. The emphasis is on controlled growth; expanding reach without compromising the personalised approach that defines the business.

La Lovely operates in a space that is often overlooked but consistently needed. While trends shift rapidly, the demand for well-fitted clothing remains. The business does not attempt to replicate the scale or speed of fast fashion. Instead, it focuses on precision, consistency, and client relationships through a continuity of effort from a mother who built a career out of constraint to a daughter shaping its next phase. Together, they position tailoring not as a fading practice but as a relevant alternative in a market that often prioritises cheap labour and unsustainable practices.