Fashion designing: Pinning threads on a whirling dervish

By Dini S. Djalal

JAKARTA (JP): Staying in fashion is an expensive business, and not just for consumers.

Every year, thousands of fashion students scramble over each other looking for their big break, and an even bigger patron. Fashion plates may have to dig deep into their pockets to look hip, but they need aspiring fashion designers who dig even deeper to come up with new looks for the chic.

But, like any investment, there are no guarantees. A fashion student can spend a lot of money on creating a small collection in order to enter design competitions, and gain little but a room full of unsold clothes.

More frustrating for young designers is the fact that, like in any industry, sometimes talent is not enough. As fashion's advertising maverick Calvin Klein has proven, marketing savvy and cunning networking skills are now as essential to success as hard work and creativity. Pity, then, the fashion student not yet versed in, or taught, self-promotion.

The first-prize winner of this year's Indonesia Fashion Competition, held annually by the Association of Indonesian Fashion Designers (AAPMI), is a seasoned player in the garment trade. At 29 years, Maria Mochtar has five years of experience working with established designer Poppy Dharsono as both a designer and a merchandiser.

Maria insists, however, that she received no financial help from Poppy for this collection. "The outfit cost less than Rp500,000 to make, and I paid for it myself," Maria said.

Maria also designed and dyed the golden-hued Balinese-motif batik for her winning cosmopolitan kebaya, which bears resemblance both to Poppy's recent wool batik collection as well as her other kebaya-inspired designs.

If Maria is this year's sophisticated entry, third prize winner Martina Sirait personifies the competition's youthful spirit. This fresh-faced 21 year-old student at Interstudi design institute was literally surprised by her prize. When asked how big her cash prize was, she answered with a puzzled, "I don't know." Then she opened the envelope and said, "Wow, it's a check for Rp1 million."

Martina was better informed about her innovative creation, entitled zipper style and composed nearly entirely of floor- length silver zippers worn with a cropped sheer silver top.

"I didn't know if my idea would work, but I was encouraged by my teacher to go ahead," said Martina. Her teacher is fashion designer Musa, also an AAPMI member. "He told me to enter the contest, and gave me a lot of mental support," Martina said.

Second-prize winner Novita, however, seems to have no obvious patron. The 24 year-old batik student at the Academy for Art and Fashion Design (ISWI) says that she is herself fully responsible for her brilliantly-crafted design, from the embroidery to the batik-dyeing and the financing of the entire process.

And it looked like strenuous work. The ensemble, comprised of a cropped Nehru-collared jacket and floor-length skirt, both in moss-green crepe de chine, was an elaborate composition of the finest web-embroidery and resembled a majestic banyan tree laced with hundred-year-old roots. When it was walked down the runway, the audience whispered, "That one is going to win."

Kooky fashions

Other entries were not greeted so warmly. From the opening outfit -- a baffling dress with a guitar as the torso and a drum as the skirt -- to the last offering of Barbarella-style skimpy togs in blue polyester satin, the audience was served a chaotic mix of kooky fashions.

Originality was certainly not lacking in these student collections, but a creative imagination does not always a fashion statement make. Many of the designs lacked wearability, confirming tired jokes about the so-called frivolous and "crazy" fashion industry.

More importantly, lack of wearability translates into little commercial value. Where can one wear a gold catsuit under a mesh ballgown, complete with a derriere bustle? Or a straitjacket matched with tuxedo pants and black patent heels? Of course creativity should be encouraged at fashion schools. But the curriculum should also teach practicality and a greater understanding of consumers' lifestyles, which more often than not rule out strolling to the supermarket in a micro-mini pouffe- skirt or a mile-high fez complete with a waist-length veil -- that is, unless you're one of the whirling dervishes.

Some ensembles, however, were very promising. A collection entitled Planet matched colorful painted chiffon skirts with equally vivid shells. Zippers ran across the torso, revealing a more striking color when unzipped -- with a nod to Belgian designer Dirk Bikkemberg, but a fun idea all the same.

Another amusing collection was The Beauty of Indonesian Leaves, which featured beautifully-cut blouses worn with raw silk flares. What took away from the design impact were the so-called "leaves" themselves -- pieces of long, stringy fabric which hung down the models' waists, breaking both the silhouette and the audience's attention.

Not that the audience was very large. This year's competition -- which selects Indonesian participants for the annual Asian Fashion Grand Prix Contest, to be held in Kobe, Japan, this October -- is much smaller than previous years' shows, which were held in Graha Niaga's small ballroom.

AAPMI director Poppy Dharsono explains that the big show is held only every two years. The lack of a brochure, as well as the lone presence of textile giant Texmaco as sponsor, indicates that times are hard for fashion designers looking for patrons. And if established designers still struggle for financial support, young designers are facing a more arduous upward climb.