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.