Culture Minister values fashion designers' ability to promote Indonesian textiles

Culture Minister Fadli Zon believes fashion designers are capable of promoting Indonesian traditional textiles, including batik, to the international world.

“Culture is upstream, while the creative economy, tourism, and others are downstream. We also need to downstream our culture, one of which is through the hands of our fashion designers. Fashion designers can bring our wastra, including batik, into the midst of world civilisation,” Fadli Zon said in Jakarta on Wednesday.

Wastra nusantara has become an ecosystem that has grown into a cultural economy, even a cultural industry. Fadli Zon appreciated the role of fashion designers who have made batik not merely formal attire but an element for promoting fashion culture on the international stage, including through fashion installation exhibitions.

One Indonesian fashion designer, Ivan Gunawan, is promoting Indonesian wastra and batik through the “Nusanova 2.0 Sekar Jagat” exhibition in Jakarta. The exhibition invites the public to enjoy fashion as an immersive work of art and to see the journey of a garment’s creation so that a fashion work can be appreciated more deeply.

The works on display are inspired by the sekar jagat batik motif typical of Pamekasan, Madura.

The exhibited collection explores the character of Madurese batik, known for being bold, rich in colour, and possessing a strong visual identity, which is then transformed into fashion works with firm, feminine, modern, and even characterful silhouettes worthy of appearing on the red carpet.

“I want to show that fashion also has a role in education and culture. That is why I have opened this exhibition to the public free of charge, so that anyone can come, see, learn, and find inspiration from the works on display,” said Ivan.