Melbourne’s fashion district pulsed with new energy recently as Sri Lankan designer Amilani Perera unveiled her latest collection at the Melbourne Fashion Week Makers Lane Runway, in collaboration with the City of Melbourne. The showcase marked a significant milestone for the designer, who was the only South Asian creative among the 13 selected to present on this year’s Makers Lane platform, underscoring her growing international presence and Melbourne’s commitment to a more global fashion narrative.

Perera’s 2025 collection, Melbourne Made, paid tribute to 1960s Australian fashion icon Mr Simon, whose avant-garde approach reshaped the country’s visual landscape. Known for his bold silhouettes, metallic finishes and pioneering use of menswear-inspired forms in women’s fashion, Mr Simon challenged convention and encouraged women to embrace self-expression at a time when fashion was tightly bound by social expectations. His work, Perera noted in her designer statement, “was more than just fashion; it was a statement of women’s rights and empowerment.”

That spirit of liberation echoed throughout Perera’s runway. Each piece translated Mr Simon’s fearless inventiveness into a contemporary vocabulary, using deconstructed rectangular forms, metallic trinkets and adjustable straps to create ensembles that blurred the lines of gender and convention. The bow motif, one of Mr Simon’s signatures, appeared throughout the collection in unexpected ways, reinforcing the dialogue between past and present.

Perera’s interpretation was as much personal as it was artistic. “This collection is a celebration of heritage and progress,” she said. “As a fellow woman, this is my way of honouring Mr Simon and Melbourne, while dressing the future with courage, purpose, and intent.”

A particularly meaningful dimension of the collection was its incorporation of handloom fabrics crafted by survivors of the Women’s Development Centre in Kandy, Sri Lanka. The textiles — striped, tactile and richly symbolic — elevated the garments with narrative depth, weaving together resilience, community and healing. For Perera, the choice was deliberate: fashion must be both expressive and socially conscious.

Social engagement has long been a defining element of the Amilani Perera brand. Founded in Sri Lanka and launched at Colombo Fashion Week in 2013, the label has evolved into an exotic luxury brand known for its high-quality ready-to-wear collections and its steadfast advocacy for women facing violence. Since 2020, Perera has partnered with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) to use fashion as a platform for empowerment, offering survivors opportunities within the product development process while supporting broader community upliftment programmes.

Her reputation for refined craftsmanship and principled design has secured her a place on some of the region’s most recognised runways, from Colombo Fashion Week, where she has shown consistently since 2013 ,to Asia Pacific showcases through UN partnerships. She was also the only Sri Lankan designer featured at Asian Designer Week 2016 in New Delhi. Her Spring/Summer 2017 collection gained attention at the USA–Sri Lanka Fashion Week in New York, and the brand’s growing international reach prompted its official registration in Australia in 2025.

Perera’s professional journey spans more than creative flair. A graduate of LASALLE College of the Arts in Singapore, she has collaborated with global manufacturers such as MAS Holdings and contributed to the amanté lingerie brand. She has also served as a design consultant for Arvind Lifestyle Brands in Bangalore, deepening her understanding of contemporary garment industries and reinforcing her technical expertise.

Her Melbourne showcase positioned her work within a broader conversation about modern femininity, artistic innovation and cultural exchange. By merging archival inspiration with socially grounded production, Perera offered a collection that felt both timely and timeless — a powerful reminder that fashion can carry history forward while giving voice to the present.

For the bustling crowd gathered at Howey Place, the Makers Lane Runway became more than a catwalk. It became a meeting point of eras, cultures and ideas. And at its centre stood Amilani Perera, steering South Asian representation to new ground with quiet strength and unmistakable creative fire.