Design students turn to foil, lightbulbs
JAKARTA (JP): Ask any fashion school student to create a dress from their own imagination. Abracadabra! You will be surprised by their wild ideas. Meet Dia Demona, a second year student from Esmod Jakarta, who interpreted her design for the millennium as a two-piece midriff mini dress with dozens of imitation clocks made of laser disks and compact disks in various sizes.
Her creation was chosen on Monday as the winner of a show held at CJ's bar at Hotel Mulia in celebration of St. Catherine's Day. St. Catherine, the savior of female dressmakers, is the school's mascot.
Dia's friends were no less creative. One of them used knotted cables, tying up her model in a very deconstructive style, while another used a Martian theme in some funky designs. Eighty outfits presented at the show proved the complicated work of the contestants.
With what has been tagged the millennium colors (metallic or silver), the students created handmade breakthroughs on their own. They made the outfits -- they are hardly called dresses -- complete with accessories such as headgear including a hat, stocking cap, kerchief, cloche, turban, motorcycle helmet and Martian helmet. There were also innovative bags, necklaces, earrings and footwear.
Aluminum foil was everywhere. In one creation, it was in the shape of Madonna's super long bra, and in another, it was wrinkled in a large sports outfit like a glittering volcano island on a map of a black vinyl ball gown. Plastic or vinyl was another favorite choice. Most students selected the material for creations which ranged from a raincoat in various colors to a simple transparent one. The latter was used as a perfect cover for the stomach area where a student who would appear to be a fan of Steven King's placed an imitation bloody intestine and heart as her main detail.
Other unusual material that heated the event was the light bulb usage in the "Electro Freak" theme -- one of five themes chosen as spirits of the show -- which was combined with a lot of futuristic details. A dozen creations used Benjamin Franklin's eureka in lighting the world, including a glittering kite-shaped skirt. The students mixed the batteries and mini lightbulbs in every area of their collections. Most of the creations reminded this viewer of an unidentified flying object's passengers, complete with a flip-flop light in their wings, antennas and constantly moving arrows like on a speedometer. (Agni Amorita)