Boots predicted to become footwear of the new millennium
By Agni Amorita
JAKARTA (JP): Footwear was described as a disaster back in the 1950s and 1960s when high heels from Italy invaded the world as the "hottest shoes for fashionable women".
Elizabeth Ewing in The History of 20th Century Fashion wrote how stiletto heels ruined innumerable floors and carpets -- not to mention feet. Even airlines complained about the damage done to the floors of their planes by these heels. Amazingly, shoes with up to four-inch stiletto heels that narrow almost to a point are still loved by contemporary women. Here in Indonesia, stiletto-heeled shoes are available in almost all shoe stores in a variety of heel lengths.
One of Indonesia's most famous shoe producers, Auk Murat, 29, only makes women's shoes, particularly open-toed shoes with stiletto heels and a variety of straps.
"I call them fashionable shoes," said Auk Murat, whose customers usually purchase her shoes for special events like weddings. Auk, committed to creating feminine shoes, employs striking colors such as pink and silver for her shoes and refuses to design footwear which could be seen as anything less than feminine, such as boots.
On the other hand, Yongki Komaladi, another local shoe designer, believes the new millennium should be celebrated with masculine footwear like boots.
"In the beginning, women used boots in winter because this kind of footwear is known for its protection against nasty weather. Later, boots got trendy with fancy details from various materials. Even women from tropical areas like Jakarta love wearing boots, especially those made from light fabrics such as nylon which can be worn with their miniskirts or jeans," Yongki said.
He decided his new collection for the upcoming year would focus on boots. "People usually ask for boots in black or brown," Yongki said. But he also makes boots in such extravagant colors as silver, bright yellow, fuchsia and red, with heels from one to nine centimeters.
To have his collection meet with the approval of Indonesians, Yongki mixed the materials used in leather shoes and nylon socks.
"They look like real boots, but the user will feel more comfortable wearing them during a tropical day in Jakarta because she will not feel hot like she would if she was wearing 100 percent leather boots," Yongki, 33, laughed.
A former model who turned to shoe designing about eight years ago, Yongki has expanded his business into 50 outlets in big cities across Indonesian, and also exports his products to Singapore and Nigeria.
"I chose a career as a shoe designer because it is still close to my background in the fashion world, and also, and most importantly, because of the small number of shoe designers here," he smiled.
Starting with only four employees, he now has more than a hundred workers and produces about 1,000 shoes each month. Sold for between Rp 100,000 and Rp 200,000, Yongki's shoes are known as trendsetters among Jakarta's women.
Caroline Ingrid, or Aline, 21, a model and student at the University of Indonesia, is fond of Yongki's shoes.
"I also love wearing boots to achieve a masculine effect," said Aline, who prefers to wear her boots with miniskirts. "My total look will be balanced; not too feminine but also not too masculine," she said.
Aline usually wears boots to work -- photo sessions and fashion shows -- and to hang around with friends.
Yongki's belief in boots as the footwear of the new millennium is also echoed by a number of international footwear brands, including Gucci, which is offering boots in its latest footwear collection for fall/winter 1999-2000.
"Gucci's boots are heavily beaded and the fabrics are all either pleaded or stitched," said Linda Prawirohardjo, Gucci Indonesia's public relations manager.
Gucci and Yongki, in their new footwear collections, are saying that in the new millennium women to be sexy -- shown by the rich feminine details of their boots -- but also strong and independent. Are you ready?