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