Four score and ten

To celebrate reaching the milestone of four score and ten Donald Wijayaratne’s wife Sushila and the rest of the family held a dinner party at their residence. In case of bad weather a white marquee was erected in the garden which was decorated in festive style for this gala event of a lifetime. It was a pleasure to see besides the family, friends who have been with this family through the years.
Donald was simply clad in a white sarong and shirt while his wife Sushila wore a red Mysore silk saree with a fine gold border on it. Also in red was youngest daughter Rohini Pandithage. Her saree had a border of luminous stripes in red, green and gold on black, with a cluster of flowers in the same ribbon pinned to her shoulder. Eldest daughter Manel Wickremasinghe wore purple with a beautiful necklace of Amethyst and Diamonds. The next in line Lilamani de Silva wore lace, back in fashion in the western world in a shade of amber with a black blouse and a chunky necklace. Chandra Wickremasinghe had her printed saree in a Prussian blue, turquoise and rust picked out in a tracery of sequins she wore with a turquoise blouse and a pendent necklace of a single turquoise.
The two daughters-in-law Aruni and Sonali Wijayaratne opted for different styles. Aruni wore a saree in a lovely shade of pink worked in lines of sequins with a shot pink and gold blouse. A long top in a print of checks in white within which were back and yellow motifs, with the white cuffs of the sleeves embroidered in a bronze tone.
When this family is around they have made statement after statement of fashion for over a decade. Of course there was much style around as the guests too made their mark. Among these were Badra Wijesena, Swarna Ameratunge, Sureksha Siriwardene, Ungi de Zoysa and among the Donald’s third generation Shameena Laurent and Sushani Wickremasinghe. To keep the evening swinging was son-in- law Desmond de Silva who was joined by his mother singing with a live band.