Mercedes seeks out young, unknown designers<\/p>\n
Syahmedi Dean, Contributor, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Fashion contests are important for novices so that they can
\nintroduce their creations to the fashion community and thereby
\ngain the attention of their seniors. Many established designers
\nstarted their careers by participating in contests.<\/p>\n
Many such contests have been held in Indonesia, but only a
\nhandful have shown good results, among others, Femina magazine
\ngroup's Fashion Designers Contest (LPM), Dewi magazine group's
\nConcours International de Jeunes Creature de Mode (CIDJCDM) and
\nthe Indonesian Young Designer Contest (IYDC). Each of these
\ncontests has contributed big names to today's fashion world in
\nIndonesia, for example Denny Wirawan and Priyo Oktaviano (LPM),
\nAbineri Ang and Rusly Tjohnardi (CIDJCDM) and Didi Budiardjo and
\nTaruna Kusmayadi (IYDC).<\/p>\n
Besides these three prestigious contests, there is now another
\none: the Mercedes-Benz Asia Fashion Award-Indonesia (MBAFA-
\nIndonesia), which seeks to select novice designers to be sent to
\na higher-level venue in Singapore. The requirements set by the
\norganizing committee are very tight. The participants, who must
\nhave a minimum two years and a maximum four years experience
\nworking in the fashion business, are required not only to be able
\nto design but also to have a good grasp of fashion presentation,
\npricing strategies, fashion trends and production systems. MBAFA,
\nwhich is in search of designers with \"hidden\" potential, offers
\ngood opportunities to these novices to openly compete with
\nestablished professional designers.<\/p>\n
Owing to these tight requirements, many candidates could not
\nmake it at the administrative inspection stage. Only 15
\ncandidates got to the semifinal and met the professional judges
\non Thursday, Aug. 11, at Blowfish Resto & Lounge. They presented
\ntheir ideas to four internal judges, namely Sebastian Gunawan,
\nDidi Budiardjo and Tri Handoko, all representing Indonesia's
\ndesigners, and Muara Bagdja, a fashion observer.<\/p>\n
As the contest focused on ready-to-wear dresses, the judges
\nalso focused their judgment on dresses that were really ready to
\nwear. At this stage, seven semi-finalists could not go on
\nbecause, more than anything else, the dresses they had designed
\nwere not ready-to-wear. They also failed because of a lack of
\nneatness in their workmanship and because of the great
\ndiscrepancy between their ideas and their designs.<\/p>\n
\"Many of the participants were too fantastic in their ideas;
\nthey were not realistic. Their drawings were fantastic but the
\nrealization of these ideas was shocking to us. Several
\nparticipants were good enough and showed strong concepts,\" said
\nTri Handoko, one of the judges.<\/p>\n
\"In general, they have not yet got a good grasp of the
\ncharacter of the materials they have chosen. Many of these
\nmaterials do not suit the character of their designs. We have
\nasked them to find better materials. Still, I'm optimistic about
\nthis year's participants, particularly those sending in their
\nmen's collection,\" said Didi Budiardjo, who shared this idea with
\nthe other judges.<\/p>\n
The MBAFA final will be held on Sept. 23, 2005 as the top
\nevent in the Mercedes-Benz Jakarta Fashion Week. The finalists
\nare Ari Yandhi, Billy Cong, Maya Ekasinta, Padmo Gardjito, Puspa
\nYenty, Tex Saverio Gunawan, Vindy Vandana and Yudhi Mulyawan.<\/p>\n
\"I don't know how I can find time to translate these designs
\ninto reality later,\" said Tex Saverio, one of the finalists,
\nshaking his head. Tex has sent in his design called Dualism and
\nis somewhat worried about how to allocate his time because in
\nSeptember he will also have to compete in the final of LPM 2005,
\na fashion contest held by the Femina Group.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/mercedes-seeks-out-young-unknown-designers-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}