look Sunday, April 6, 2014 Flamboyance And Cheer By Sadhana Senanayake T ymeron Carvalho is one of the bright, young faces of fashion in Sri Lanka. With his own flamboyant personal style and cheerful personality, he is set to take on and change the face of men’s fashion. He is one part of The Design Cafe, a design house that is involved in different facets of design, from fashion and interiors to graphic design. ‘Tymo’ is involved in the fashion facet of The Design Cafe. He was involved in the The Design Cafe designs for Miss Sri Lanka Sabrina Herft at Miss Universe 2012 where he was placed fourth out of 84 countries for the National Costume segment. The Design Cafe has designed national costumes for numerous other pageants such as Miss Grand International 2013 and Mister Asia 2013 where they won Best National Costume. Apart from his design career, Tymo is a well known model and brought Sri Lanka fame and recognition by competing in the Best International Model pageant in Spain last year. Tymo won the pageant, beating out contestants from all over the world, and won three out of five mini titles, including Best National Costume and Best Model of the ramp. Fashion and design had always been his passion from the time he was a little boy when he started sketching designs for men and women. When he finished his A levels at St Joseph’s Col- The youth of today are impressionable and need more fashionable role models to set an example, he says, “Society and the media have a huge impact on the way in which we dress. The youth watch a lot of television and follow the TV stars and what they wear. If the celebrities dressed better, the youth would follow suit.” With his own designs, Tymo favours a structural design with a certain flare and edge that would make the wearer stand out from the crowd. He wants to eventually open his own store. “As a man in Sri Lanka, there are only one or two places to go when you want to buy good quality, stylish clothes,” he says, “By opening a store, I can provide men another place that they can go to buy fashionable clothes.” His store will not only sell clothes for men, but accessories as well. He also plans to come out with a sportswear line. “I go to the gym regularly, so I know what problems guys encounter when they are not wearing the right clothes to the gym,” he explains, “I would use only flexible materials for my line, no nylon or synthetic material that would make you sweat more and make you feel warmer. Most people just wear their oldest, shabbiest, baggiest clothes to the gym, but this is not practical!” He also hopes to expand his designs into a swimwear line. Though he mainly concentrates on designs for men, he will soon be coming up with a line of cocktail dresses for women. Tymo believes that Sri Lanka is on a good path to becoming a more fashionable country. “It’s a lot easier for women to be more stylish than men at this point, as they have more options and places to shop, but that will soon change!” He hopes for the future that he will create a label that is successful both locally and internationally, and that the label will be split into two, a high end designer section and a high street collection, “Like Dolce and Gabbana, they have their designer label and they have D&G which is cheaper. This is what I would like to emulate in the future, so that my designs will be affordable to everyone, no matter what their budget!” Look at the school boys. They all have their hair cut in the latest style and have tailored their school pants to look more like skinny jeans! They really do care about the way the look. Hopefully they will inspire the girls around them to make more of an effort too. Tymeron Carvalho lege, he knew that he wanted to start a career in design, so, he started researching design schools in Colombo. He attended the Lanka Institute of Fashion Technology (LIFT) where he graduated with a diploma in design. He gained his advanced diploma is design at SELACK. After completing his studies, he started working at The Design Cafe where he works on structural design in men’s wear, both casual wear and evening wear. He also designs accessories for men. When asked if he is inspired by anyone in particular from the fashion world, he says, “John Galliano, as his designs are avant-garde and elaborate.” Tymo says he is pleased at the changing face of fashion in the country, “Before, it was the same old designs and styles you would see on the runway, nothing new. Now, designers are being more adventurous and daring as the public becomes more fashion aware.” He points out that the Sri Lankan male has become considerably more fashion conscious. “Look at the school boys. They all have their hair cut in the latest style and have tailored their school pants to look more like skinny jeans!” he says, “They really do care about the way the look. Hopefully they will inspire the girls around them to make more of an effort too.”