Interview with Jenuli De Silva for Interpretations of Renowned Masterpieces

I'm Jenuli De Silva, a thirteen-year-old designer living in Singapore. My journey began around age ten when I designed a simple dress that caught my parents' attention. Until then, fashion hadn’t been a big part of my life, but their encouragement sparked my curiosity, and I dove into exploring this exciting new world.

I first became interested in designing fashion after my parents told me a simple dress I drew (when I was ten) looked good. After that, I thought about more and more ways to improve my designs, to outdo the norms, and naturally started investing my time in fashion, sketching out ideas on paper almost daily.

Along the way, I started becoming more and more interested in fashion in general; creative directors (the fashion profession of my choice), luxury brands, fashion shows, etc.

Design, to me, means a way of expressing yourself. A designer pours all their thoughts and emotions into a single piece. As people’s views differ, I imagine that’s why some often complain about luxury designs being ‘overrated’ or ‘impractical.’ In my opinion, the impracticality is what makes it so beautiful and unique.

Designing, in my view, is a way to ease tension, convey emotions and feelings we can’t always speak out loud, and present your work to the world unafraid.

My favourite type of design is undoubtedly haute couture. I adore haute couture! I feel extremely relaxed and at ease whenever I design an item from a haute couture collection, unlike ready-to-wear, womenswear, menswear, etc., which always require a sense of practicality and boundaries.

In haute couture, however, there are no boundaries – I am completely at liberty to create whatever kind of beautiful abomination I choose.

Originality is one of the most important components of design for me. I despise plagiarism because it means the original creator’s work will inevitably be compared with the plagiarist’s. For example, the tweed suit popularized by Chanel was quickly modified and slightly altered to be sold by other luxury houses.

While I appreciate that people today still refer to Chanel when asked about tweed suits, I consider a design with untested originality significantly better than one with recycled ideas.

Apart from fashion, I have quite a few hobbies, one of which is art. Art is something I’ve been interested in since I was a toddler – scribbling on walls and such. So, it made sense that as I grew, so did my knowledge of art. Among all the art prodigies, I prefer Vincent Van Gogh the most, with Monet and Johannes Vermeer in close second and third.

I decided to incorporate my two hobbies – creating designs inspired by famous art pieces. The design process took longer than expected; I assume I must have finished the entire collection in about a month.