Unstructured Clothes- No Cut, No Sew: Sustainable Dress practices of Sri Lanka

Unstructured draped clothes with their vast range of possibilities provide a considerable opportunity for societal sustainability for the waste oriented fashion industry. The intention of sustainable design is to eliminate negative environmental impact completely through skillful, sensitive design. The fashion designer is a responsible person to address some of the environmental and social issues that are associated with the fashion design and the design process in industry. This paper aims to explore the possibilities between innovation and sustainable fashion through an exploration of the selected dresses which were worn by the ancient Sri Lankans during the 17th and 18th Centuries by drawing on two main sustainable concepts viz., zero waste design and style consumption. Besides this paper posits the notion that the historical clothing wearing methodology offers a system from which a centrally located person can apply sustainable solutions conjointly with fashion innovation. Dresses of elite males like the thuppottiya, (an extravagant male lower body dress) the elite female dress ohoriya (a complete outfit made by draping similar to sari) demonstrate the sensitivity of manipulation of textiles around the human body.