Fashion
Text by Ranjabati Das. Interviews by Akanksha Pandey.
Ingredients used for dyes (clockwise from top): avocado stone (for light pink and tan), a packet of mehndi powder (for dark brown), turmeric powder (for bright yellow), pomegranate skin (for yellow), madder root (for pink and red), onion skin (for yellow and green) and eucalyptus leaves (centre, for light green and yellow)
Photograph by Deborah Grace
“In any South Asian country, craft-based communities are a model of self-sufficiency and creative identity. A lack of focus on these erodes the basic identity and creates an ethical imbalance, and this happened in Sri Lanka as well. There is a renewed focus now, especially on weaving and dye-based textile craft forms, like batik, beeralu, Dumbura and tie-dye, alongside new practices like recycling and repurposing,” says Colombo Fashion Week…