MAY 30, 2024
CRAFTING CULTURE
Anavila Misra crafts cross-cultural identity with the ÉTÉ Collection
Dubbed as a love letter to summer, designer Anavila Misra wove her ode to the Franco-Tamil culture of Puducherry in the second of the Textile Talks series at the Rithihi flagship store at Alfred House Gardens recently. Mesmerised by the heady scents and palette of the hues of French influence that mixed effortlessly into the backdrop of Tamil culture when she first visited Puducherry in 1999, Anavila’s ÉTÉ Collection depicts the modernity yet traditionality of the sari drape.
The cross-cultural narrative behind ÉTÉ which transcends geographic boundaries and into the infinity of the ethno-European cultural space has been perfectly encapsulated by Rithihi using Sri Lankan muses of mixed identities to showcase the blend of tradition and modern in the everyday woman. Rithihi captures Marine Researcher Ramani Jayawardena and physiotherapist and Kuppameniya Founder Melanie Daetwyler-De Silva who are both of Swiss-Sri Lankan origin. In addition, Interior Designer and multi-faceted entrepreneur Annika Fernando who has a Sri Lankan father and mother who was Dutch, Danish and Austrian with a German upbringing to realise the relevance of the Anavila story to Sri Lanka.
