Fashion designing: Pinning threads on a whirling dervish

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.