During the month of December, before the Christmas holidays, I was invited to do a shoot for the brand “Aviraté“. Aviraté is a worldwide fashion brand owned by Timex Garments, a renowned Sri Lankan garment manufacturer. The brand began its retail adventure in June 2010 throughout the Asia-Pacific region by debuting into the largest department store in Colombo, Sri Lanka. The collections promote the concept of a full wardrobe, including day and evening clothing, with dresses, attractive trousers, and skirts matched with complementary shirts, lingerie, accessories, and footwear. For this specific collection, it was Christmas themed and the aim was to be both festive and chic. There were two other models who were also invited. I had the pleasure of getting to know them and work with them throughout the shoot.

Photos of some of the outfits that I wore for my part of the shoot:

This shoot had helped me boost a lot confidence in the way I pose in front of the camera. In the beginning, I asked what sort of look the brand wanted or the type of attitude they wanted from me when I posed. With this information, I was able to narrow down specific facial expressions and body gestures that would best represent their aim with this collection (what they were looking for). I used to overthink a lot when I started modelling because I was worried about disappointing the designers/photographers. I was worried about going too “overboard” or giving “too much” but then I realized, this fear was the only element holding me back from being  flexible and creative. With practice, encouraging pep talks from my parents and friends as well as myself, I began improving my rational thinking to push away the overthinking and to just let go. It was important for me to continue communicating with the photographers and designers to suggest different poses (propose my ideas). I needed to trust myself in including poses that are both fluid and natural to avoid putting on poses that were stiff and awkward. For example in this video: IMG_1625 , we were filming a clip scene and I thought to myself why don’t I do subtle movements to see what I can come up with and to see if it’s alright with the photographers/designers. This helped me to better express myself and convey the specific mood that the designers wanted.