Bandung designers: Not content to be a fashion also-ran

Muara Bagdja, Contributor, Bandung

Bandung offers more in the style stakes than its famous Cihampelas jeans, factory outlets crowded with Jakarta weekend visitors or Cibaduyud leather footwear.

Without much fuss, the city's fashion designers are working to make their names known. They have recently come to play a more significant role in defining fashion in the West Java capital, which was the center of youth style in the 1960s, before Jakarta took over.

Designers from the local chapter of the Indonesian Association of Fashion Designers and Entrepreneurs (APPMI) have organized Bandung Fashion Week for two consecutive years to promote their creations.

In last year's fashion week, for example, a number of designers featured interesting works.

The designs, which garnered the attention of visiting editors of Jakarta fashion magazines, were praised for their creativity.

Several names to be reckoned at this year's recently held show were Deden Siswanto, Ferry Sunarto, Shierley Wargadidjaja and Malik.

Their emergence comes from their own recognition that they must act to ensure that Bandung becomes a major player in the development of the country's fashion, instead of being an also- ran behind dominant Jakarta, long the place to go for young, aspiring designers from the provinces.

"I also want Bandung to be as advanced in fashion as Jakarta. It does not mean that the designers from Bandung must move to Jakarta. They can stay in Bandung, strive to make fashion designs by Bandung designers and gain trust in Jakarta as well," said chairman of APPMI's Bandung chapter Ferry Sunarto.

Collectively, they display a vision outside the mainstream of Jakarta fashion. Deden, for example, takes a Himalayan theme and applies it to a modern design in the form of blouses and broad skirts in a free-flowing, asymmetrical style, in conformity with current global fashion trends.

"I've tried to offer something new, not something glamorous, just for a change. In Bandung you have very elegant styles, but few incorporate ethnic, folk styles. So, I've chosen this style but applied it for today's dress, which can be mixed and matched," he said.

Deden, 34, finished Intermodel fashion school in Bandung in 1987, going on to work as a designer in a company making teen and children's garments. In the late 1990s, he opened his own business and began to produce garments under the label D2N.

He has taken part in a number of fashion contests in Jakarta. His collection at Bali Fashion Week 2001, which was broadcast by international fashion channel FTV, was chosen as one of the "Top Ten" of the show.

Deden's design concept centers on Asian ethnic styles, with feminine and modern touches. It comes as no surprise that the designer is fond of epic films with Asian color such as the Little Buddha, Kundun or Seven Years in Tibet, making use of the films as his source of inspiration.

Contemporary ethnic elements are prominent among the characteristics of Bandung fashion designers like Deden and Ferry Sunarto, who switched to ethnic designs this year from more elegant styles last year.

Ferry's designs were inspired by the West Javanese legend of Dayang Sumbi and Sangkuriang and are present in the style of his modern kebaya (woman's blouse) and kemben (breast cloth), with a soft skirt. The Sundanese alphabet of hanacaraka is present in his designs, accentuating the ethnic style set against modern designs.

Ferry, 29, studied fashion design in several places. In 1993 he was at the Bandung Design Education Center for a year and then he joined Futura in Jakarta. He later spent two years studying in Taiwan, and finished second in the Fashion Design Contest in Jakarta in 1995.

But his most memorable experience studying fashion design came when he was still a senior high school student. He often played hookey from school because he wanted to learn sewing from a sewing instructor.

Today, Ferry takes orders in his house and also works as a consultant for a garment company.

His design concept plays on the contrast between feminine and masculine cuts of dresses, and mixes coarse with soft materials. He likes a strong fashion character in women, such as with waif supermodel Kate Moss or local TV host Desy Anwar with her uniform blazers and pants.

Shierley Wargadidjaja uses Japan as her inspiration and her collection shows a strong kimono influence. As for Malik, he appears with freer styles, adapting a boxer's robe for youngsters' casual wear for example.

Given the concepts shown by these designers, Bandung does appear to have its own style. Jakarta is famous for its feminine, elegant and glamorous styles, but Bandung has made its mark through a unique contemporary ethnic style.

Ironically, although Bandung is only three hours by train from Jakarta and has a population of about three million, it does not have the lifestyle of a metropolitan city, the force that usually encourages creativity of designers and the shaping of a local fashion scene.

Bandung is still better known as a university town, with its population preferring to spend time at home. Jakarta, by contrast, has a fast-paced lifestyle, which includes doing the rounds of cafes and clubbing.

"Bandung differs from Jakarta," Ferry acknowledged.

"There are not many events that allow women to wear gowns. Here, even having a dress code is unusual."

Ferry and Deden said they receive a lot of orders for ball gowns, which would not be worn in Bandung.

"They take the gowns to Jakarta and wear them at events in the capital, such as dinner parties," said Deden.

Still, it seems that Bandung may be on its way to adopting an urban lifestyle.

A number of stylish bars and restaurants have opened up in the city, and now there is the Bandung Supermall on Jl. Gatot Subroto, with shops and department stores selling similar clothing to what is found in Jakarta's most exclusive boutiques.

The mall's tenants of cafes and restaurants will provide a new arena for people to wear modish clothes, although sometimes the yearning to be fashionable can be a bit misplaced, such as a group of young people in fur-collared jackets at a mall cafe in the middle of the day.

Designers are also expected to help in creating this fashion sense. Unfortunately, they have yet to produce ready-to-wear clothes for the general public.

At present, they concentrate more on orders as a means to survive. Once in a while they promote their work in Jakarta-based magazines.

If the work they display on catwalks are evidence of their idealism and wealth of ideas, their made-to-order pieces are for practical reasons.

"Our main income in this business comes from clients' orders," said Ferry.

In fact, they also wish to produce ready-to-wear dresses to ensure that the fashion and taste of their consumers are more or less on the same track. Their constraint today is the development of the garment business because its management, teamwork and assets have yet to work efficiently.

Deden and Ferry said they were still strengthening the foundation of their business. They do not do promotions or advertise, but go on the strength of word of mouth.

Annual fashion shows and publication of their collections in magazines have also helped improve their reputation.

"At least there are a number of new customers who know my name from magazines. They are interested in the collection and will ask me to make small changes here and there to suit their taste," Deden said.

Most importantly, they now have their own vision and creativity as strong assets to be more professional. What they still have to learn is how to develop the business, and they may be able to learn from their colleagues in Jakarta.

As fashion is basically creativity put to work with business, a dress accepted and worn by the public will eventually not be limited to a onetime strut down the catwalk.