Occasion dresses, designed and made in Sri Lanka.

HelaSecrets began with a simple frustration: the garments Sri Lanka makes leave the island by the container-load, and come back as someone else's label. We wanted to keep the rest of the story here — the cut, the finish, the name on the tag.

Every piece is made in small runs in our Colombo studio. Fabrics are chosen for each garment, in weights drawn for humid afternoons and long evenings. Finishing is where corners get cut to reach a price, and it is the part we keep — because it is what a dress is judged on the second time you wear it, not the first.

The price follows from that: we sell direct from the studio, so there is no wholesaler and no distributor taking a margin on the way to you. What you get for it is a dress you can wear to the office and to the dinner after it.