Sri Lanka’s visual vocabulary finds a new expression through this edit
A fishing net catches the eye. A tiled floor creates a pattern. A shutter frames a building. Somewhere between these seemingly ordinary details and the instinct to look closer, Amit Aggarwal found the beginnings of his latest AM:IT collection. Sri Lanka became less of a destination and more of a visual conversation — one that unfolded through architecture, craft, colour and the quiet repetitions woven into the island’s everyday surroundings.
Sunset hues, woven grids and relaxed silhouettes reimagine Sri Lanka’s streets, tiles and fishing nets as a vibrant, travel-ready AM:IT wardrobe
The collection doesn’t attempt to recreate Sri Lanka. Instead, it distils the things that stayed with Amit: the geometry of Dumbara weaving, cane and palm-leaf craft, colonial facades, temple architecture, fishing nets and Geoffrey Bawa’s distinctive relationship with light and shadow. These references emerge through newly developed woven textiles, experimental surfaces and easy silhouettes, while sunset-inspired shades of coral, pink, orange and saffron inject the wardrobe with a sense of energy.
Excerpts:
What was the first detail in Sri Lanka that made you think this could become a collection?
It wasn’t one particular thing. It was the accumulation of details. I remember being struck by how often the same visual instinct appeared in completely different places: a grid in a building, a weave, a shutter, a tiled floor, even a fishing net. Everything seemed to have a rhythm to it. That stayed with me. I became interested in what would happen if we took that rhythm and made it wearable.
The collection draws from Dumbara weaving, cane craft, temple architecture, colonial tiles and Geoffrey Bawa’s use of light and shadow. How did you translate such distinct visual references into a language that still feels unmistakably AM:IT?
By looking at what connected them rather than treating them as separate references. I kept coming back to structure, repetition, proportion and movement. Sri Lanka gave us a new vocabulary to play with. A colonial facade and a woven basket may have very different histories, but the way they build rhythm can be remarkably similar. That became the starting point for these pieces.
Woven textiles are at the heart of the collection. What was the process of transforming Sri Lanka’s grids, geometries and patterns into new woven surfaces?
Weaving has been a part of our couture practice for over a decade, so Sri Lanka became another interesting point of reference within a language we have been evolving for years. The grids, repetitions and geometries we encountered naturally led to new experiments with scale, rhythm and construction. The idea was to retain the instinct behind the reference, while giving it a distinctly AM:IT expression.
How did the idea of ‘clothes that travel’ influence the design and construction?
Travel changes the way you think about clothes. You want things to be light, uncomplicated and easy to move in, but I don’t think that should mean they lose their character. We worked around that idea by keeping the silhouettes relaxed and packable, while putting the interest into the construction, the woven surfaces and the details. I like clothes that can look completely at home on a street in Colombo and then, a week later, fit seamlessly into your everyday wardrobe.
What drew you to the collection’s vibrant coral, pink, orange and saffron hues?
The colours came from the hours around sunset. Sri Lanka has this incredible quality of light where pink, orange, coral and saffron seem to become much more intense for a few minutes. I wanted to capture that feeling rather than simply create a palette inspired by the island. The vibrancy also brings a nice counterpoint to the more structured woven surfaces; it makes the collection feel energetic, a little irreverent and very AM:IT.
How did you negotiate the precision of couture with the freedom of travel?
I don’t really see them as opposites. Couture has always been the place where we experiment, and through AM:IT, we bring those ideas and learnings to much more relaxed and lived-in silhouettes that one can wear in their everyday life. The challenge is to retain the intelligence of the couture-level making whilst ensuring the clothes feel like a second skin. I like the idea that something can be considered and still feel completely effortless when you put it on.
How did shooting the campaign in Sri Lanka change the way you saw the clothes?
Shooting in Sri Lanka wasn’t a campaign that took months or even weeks of planning. The thought came up while my partner and I were discussing a summer getaway, and we simply decided to go with it. In many ways, that spontaneity brought out exactly what we wanted AM:IT to have from the beginning: a sense of ease, curiosity, and a whole lot of fun. The clothes began to feel less like individual looks and more like a wardrobe belonging to someone who is actually going somewhere. That felt very true to the spirit of the collection and to the way we wanted to experience it ourselves.