Designers offer Ramadhan fashions

Designers offer Ramadhan fashions

By Agni Amorita

JAKARTA (JP): The gown is a mini, with tiny spaghetti straps,
colored in trendy metallic gray. This gown, designed by Anne
Rufaidah, and many others were displayed at the Female Muslim
Fashion Trend 1999 fashion show.

Thirteen local designers displayed their latest muslimah
(female Moslem) dress collections in the fashion show, annually
held by the Indonesian Designer and Garment Association (APPMI).

"I designed the gown for my younger customers who have a
greater fashion awareness," said Anne, Miss Indonesia 1980 and
the youngest finalist in the first Indonesian Fashion Design
Competition in 1979.

To make her gown comply to the muslimah dress code which only
allows for the display of the face and the palms of hands in
public, Anne combined the dress with a floor length, long
sleeved, blue tunic as its "outer skin". Made from fully textured
jacquard material, the dress was worn with a pastel-colored
jilbab (head scarf).

"I want to dress up teenagers who often complain about the
limited variety of muslimah dress available, by offering dresses
different from the classical dress worn by their mothers," said
Anne. Other eye-catching "Gen-X" designs in Anne's latest
collection were black army short-boots and silvery colors for her
three piece dress.

Besides Anne, other designers also offered an impressive
selection of designs. Minawati Sardja offered various kinds of
dresses, while Dewiyati Ruslan and Deasy Munaf designed raglan
sleeves and diagonal cuts. Corrie Kastuby played with tasseled
thread and bakiak (wooden) sandals in her black, futuristic
design collection.

Also in the show, Fenny Mustafa combined transparent tunics
with sorban scarves. Other designers modernized traditional
design elements such as geometric batik kawung and batik
jlamprang in 1999's pastel, gray, violet and purple colors.

In short, the designs displayed in the fashion show reflected
the optimism for the coming year.

"Thank God we could maintain our annual schedule to organize
this show," said Poppy Dharsono, chairman of the Association
which opened the show on Nov. 25. in Kemayoran, Jakarta. The show
was held during a large student demonstration in downtown
Jakarta.

The APPMI is one of the biggest Indonesian fashion societies,
and regularly promotes muslimah fashion designers.

"We have a dream to make Jakarta the center of the muslimah
fashion world," said Ida Royani, a former actress who acts as a
spokeswoman for the Association's muslimah designers.

Little by little, the region has begun to subscribe to Ida's
optimism.

"Our customers are not only locals, but also from Singapore,
Malaysia, Brunei and the Middle East," said Gusmi Djufri, who
launched utilized animal prints combined with embroidery for her
1999 collection.

Gusmi runs eight boutiques in Jakarta, and with four other
muslimah fashion designers recently opened a new showroom in
Batam called Chairunissa.

"Our next step will be to open our own boutique abroad," said
Gusmi.

Dewiyanti Ruslan, a co-owner of Chairunissa, shares the same
vision as Gusmi.

"We opened the Batam branch because of the increasing demand
from Singaporean and Malaysian buyers who regularly visit the
island every weekend," said Dewiyati, whose loyal customers
include State Minister for Woman Affairs Tutty Alawiyah.

Another established name in Indonesian muslimah fashion, Fenny
Mustafa from The House of Shafira, prefers to focus on local
customers.

"Our local market has a lot of potential," assured Fenny.

"Shafira has been operating 24 boutiques and outlets in
Jakarta as well as in East and West Java," said Elydawati, the
marketing manager for The House of Shafira. She added that they
are not planning to expand in the near future, because there are
management risks to be considered, especially regarding The
House's image, established after ten years of hard work.

This image began to take shape more than a decade ago when
Fenny Mustafa started wearing jilbab dresses.

"There was an urge for Fenny to be trendy, yet it was hard to
find a chic Moslem dress at the time. So Fenny designed her own
dresses," Elydawati recalled. Fenny's designs are elegant and
wearable, thanks to first class tailoring and simple cuts.

Elegance is also derived from the materials.

"Tropical wool is preferred because it is sweat absorbent,"
said Dewiyati Ruslan, who believes the perfect finishing touch is
a must for her designs. She avoids too much detail because it
does not fit with the petite figure of Indonesian women.

The coming month of Ramadhan is a big time for muslimah
fashion designers.

"More than 45 percent of our annual profits are usually
obtained during this month," explained Elydawati. This means
designers must double their inventory, which is not easy. Fabrics
must now be purchase with cash, because merchants no longer
accept credit.

Both Dewiyati and Gusmi also mentioned a 200 percent increase
in sales during the Ramadhan month. With a monthly turnover of Rp
175 million, The House of Shafira sells their newest collection
from between Rp 195,000 and Rp 800,000. Dewiyanti prices her
dress from Rp 200,000 and Gusmi's ghamish dresses are priced
between Rp 400,000 and Rp 800,000.

The muslimah fashion designers showing their collections at
the 1999 fashion collection not only showed their readiness for
the upcoming month of Ramadhan, but also their ability to
establish Jakarta as the center of the muslimah fashion world.