1. Ronald (1 x 32)
1. Ronald (1 x 32)
Ronald V. Gaghana roaring on empty JP/9/Ronald
Roaring on empty
Syahmedi Dean Contributor/Jakarta
How far is a theme useful in the creation of fashion? Is it a source of ideas or even a boomerang? The answer can be found in Ronald V. Gaghana's annual fashion show.
Ronald V. Gaghana (43) is one of Indonesia's fashion designers whose creations are always awaited.
On Thursday, April 28, he, again, represented his latest ideas in 60 sets of fashion designs featured in a fashion show held at the ballroom of Mulia Hotel called "Roaring Twenties", a theme based on a decade in which fashion underwent changes very rapidly and which gave birth to the term "modernist fashion", which marks the abandonment by a number of fashion designers of a Victorian- style and Edwardian-style of dressing that curbs a person's movement and body.
These modernist fashion designers included Coco Chanel, who introduced the term "the modern woman", with her design called "little black dress", Lanvin with his dropped-waist dress, Elsa Schiaparelli with her body-hugging swimsuit and Paul Poiret, who turned the pajama as an element of modern evening wear.
The decade of the twenties could be summed up as identical with straight lines, bobbed hair, flat breasts, boyish bodies and minimalist and modern Art Deco (the film Chicago can show all these very graphically). All these items constitute a very rich source of ideas waiting to be explored.
In his attempt to re-introduce the glory of the 1920s, Ronald leaned heavily on the dropped-waist silhouette, a silhouette in the form of a gown the upper and lower parts of which are connected on the waist (usually given a ribbon knot, a waist belt or other ornaments).
One interesting creation was a beige satin gown with a green ribbon knot on the waist part. Ronald provided this gown with a necklace made of Art Deco-style beads. Although it represented a style prevailing in 1920s, this look keeps its modernity even today. Something was disturbing, though, as the dropped-waist line of the gown that the model put on went down to the upper part of the thighs, therefore causing the gown to look too loose and destroy the proportion of the model.
From Ronald's point of view, the 1920s was represented only by a dropped-waist silhouette only. What about the rest? Ronald went far and wide for his creative ideas. His best design was a chiffon full skirt plus a golden-colored long-sleeved jacket, very chic but, unfortunately, not in the least reflecting the Roaring Twenties. Instead, it represented the New Look style of 1950s.
Many other gowns were ornamented with a lot of beads without giving the Art Deco impression. A skirt made of several pieces of cloth has all too often featured in Ronald's shows, this time and earlier. (Enough, Ronald!) It seems that he ran out of ideas. The skirt gave the impression that it had too many elements so it was not pretty too look at. In short, it was too busy.
The best color of a series of chosen colors available in the show was the tosca blue. This color was outstanding and injected a maximum fashion spirit like what was shown in a gown with an inflated part of the 1950's style (again not the style of 1920s). Other colors such as golden, red, beige and aqua blue were too often repeated and, therefore, not quite challenging. One thing unforgivable about the choice of colors was Ronald's combination of the black and golden colors, two colors that are today quite beautiful but become boring when they are combined.
As a matter of fact, Ronald's designs were very fine, neat and of a high quality. However, his ability to fantasize and develop ideas is questionable. Several times the essence of his designs became lost in the theme of his choice with the result that one would get the impression Ronald did not have enough reference and took the wrong step. His chosen theme became empty and gave no impression at all.
Unsurprisingly, the fashion public has begun to be doubtful about Ronald's credibility despite his fame in Indonesia's world of fashion today.
Usually, Ronald's designs are inseparable from the image of youthfulness with dynamic and modern accentuation. His designs are suitable for women with a youthful spirit combined with an energized, expressive and edgy disposition. Unfortunately, these characteristics of Ronald's designs were absent in his collection shown in the Roaring Twenties. This time his designs reflect middle-aged women trying too hard to enjoy their second puberty.