Fashion designer Edward tailors national dress for the times

By Bruce Emond

JAKARTA (JP): Fashion designer Edward Hutabarat has gone from designing elegant, ultrafeminine evening wear to being a passionate advocate of the promotion of "national dress".

Talk about a difficult proposition; with a wealth of cultures and peoples dotted across thousands of islands in the world's largest archipelago, it's tough to make a firm definition of what is national attire.

After all, one man's batik shirt is another's koteka (penis sheath).

To Edward, it means taking the clothes of the different regions and putting them in a modern context, including a bit of mixing and matching.

"National dress cannot be used every day. You can't play tennis in it, or wear it to the office, because the key thing today is practicality," Edward said during a seminar on tips and tricks for national attire on Thursday.

"We have to make national dress part of our lifestyle. So if we have a party or reception to go to, then national dress is the way to go."

Using a parade of male and female models, Edward showed how woven fabrics such as tenun and songket from South Sulawesi and South Sumatra respectively could be paired with each other, or teamed with the Javanese signature fabric of batik.

He also showed alternate approaches to using jewelry, such as one earring matched with flowers, and the traditional blue kebaya (blouse) replaced by one in crimson.

Not all the looks went down well with the guests, particularly the wrapping of a short stole around the head turban-style. Amid clucks and twittering, one woman murmured: "Who's she supposed to be, Jackie O?"

Although others may fear that mixing distinctive fabrics from different regions may cause a sartorial faux pas, Edward said it was nothing new.

"My mother often mixed her favorite ulos (woven textiles from North Sumatra) with batik and other fabrics. It's not something unusual for our people."

Confidence is always the fundamental part of being able to carry off an outfit, he added.

"Don't be conservative because what's most important is that it's appropriate," he told the audience, most of them middle-aged society women. "It will work if you have confidence in it."

Tips

Edward's tips on making national dress work included:

* Figure Flaws: Women carrying a few extra kilograms often use stoles and wraps to cover their waists. Edward said they should instead focus on the elegance of their clothes. "If you use a stole elegantly, then that is the impression you will give others."

* Add the Pad: For women with an undefined waistline, Edward advocated using shoulder padding but said it should be used discriminately.

* Feet Fears: Older women and those with unattractive feet should use close-topped sandals, Edward said.

* Black Magic: Although Edward showed male models in trendy modern-design batik shirts paired with jeans, he said black pants were still the best choice for formal events. "They can be a bit shiny to complement the other fabric."

He also said all Indonesian men, not only Muslims, could wear the kopiah, a rimless black cap. "It's Indonesian, for all Indonesians to wear," he added.

* All That Glitters ...: Less can be more when it comes to accessories and jewelry, the designer said. Sometimes very little jewelry or none at all will help put the beauty of the textiles at center stage. "Indonesians think that handbags, jewelry have to be flashy, but you have to be careful of harmony."

Preservation

Edward said he was deeply concerned about the preservation of the country's textiles and the technology used in making them.

Cases in point are a 1940s' stole from Makassar and a gold- embroidered piece from Palembang, made around 1890, which were used in the show.

Edward said the knowledge about producing those materials had been lost.

"Many of our craftspeople have turned to farming or trade because of the crisis. It will take years for us to regain that knowledge."

Antique textiles are also being snapped up by foreign buyers.

"What I'm really afraid of is that in a few years we'll have to be tourists and travel to other countries to see the beautiful fabrics of our country. Our textiles have been covered in mud, and now it's time to dig them out," Edward said.

"America may be able to produce a spaceship, but it can't make songket."