Oh! Colombo

 

 

It was a great evening and I was happy to have accept the invitation to judge this contest which was produced by Brian Kerkoven and Malik Ratwaththa.  My other fellow judges were three very lovely women, the evergreen Ramani Fernando, Linda Speldewinde and the charming and current Miss Sri Lanka, Sabrina Herft. With them was Mr. Pawee Ventura from the Philippines who is very involved in many international beauty pageants.

Following Brian’s progress in this field as a producer and choreographer, I have only seen great progress and improvement year after year and he is not stuck in a time warp as some of the others in this industry. This is due to the fact that he actually goes to many international pageants and fashion shows, works with the Colombo Fashion Week and picks up new trends in the business and learns from them. He says that he knows he has a lot more to learn but producing shows and getting sponsors prove to be difficult.  Therefore, he was grateful to his co-producer Malik Rathwaththa and to his sponsors, Evergreen Shipping, APS Knitters PVT limited and the Hi Fi Center for making this show happen.

Romesh Athapathu of Capello Salons and his staff worked very hard to groom and have all the contestants hair and makeup done.  They are a team who work with Brian in many productions.  They excelled as usual and their work was not only appreciated by the producers but the entire audience. The Wijeya Group and Swarnawahini were the media sponsors. The Colombo Hilton was the host hotel.

 

 

The show was in three segments: beach wear, casual and evening wear. Clothes were done by many and a special mention goes to Eric Sooriyasena for his beautiful batik dresses and the saris in one of the entertainment spots. Great entertainment was provided by vocalist Mr. Sam Paris who Mihira Wickramarachi had brought down to perform at the show.  Sam kept the audience in good humor with great vocals, a well-coordinated dance troupe and two fashion segments.

The contestants for the Mr. Sri Lanka Title were of a very high standard. All of us judges were most taken up by the fact that of the grooming and great physical state the guys were in and all of them had great personalities. The girls were of a bubbly nature and with charming personalities too. What also was nice to know was that they were all highly educated, holding responsible jobs and with ambition. It is great when contestants are of this caliber and gives great encouragement to all who wish to participate in pageants of this nature.

The title winner for Mr. Sri Lanka was Brayan De Livera and the female model of the year was won by the lovely Leanne Driesprong. They were the unanimous choice of us judges who immensely enjoyed judging the show.  We wish Brian lots of good luck and goodwill on his future endeavors…..