Fashion franchises prey on Indonesian elite

By Dini S. Djalal

JAKARTA (JP): It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, Charles Dickens wrote in A Tale of Two Cities.

Dickens could have been referring to Indonesia's fashion industry. With countless boutique openings and fashion shows, it has been an eventful year for style hounds, although it remains unknown whether the surface glamour is bringing in the bucks for retailers. This year, the fashion industry became big business, but not necessarily for local designers.

One thing is for sure: In Jakarta, fashion has become an obsession. A friend recently commented that there are more fashion shows in Jakarta than in London. She's right. Some capitals boast operas, Jakarta is proud of its catwalks.

After all, Jakarta is, so far, the only Asian home of that shrine to supermodels, the Fashion Cafe. This brainchild of model-cum-magnates Naomi Campbell, Elle MacPherson and Claudia Schiffer first opened in New York City, and recently in London. No doubt Jakarta's fashion set is reeling to be in such celebrated company, perhaps while gorging on house specials Catwalk Canneloni and Runway Rigatoni.

But if the Fashion Cafe opening is more showy than chic, it symbolizes where the fashion industry is going: commercial. Indonesian designers were once mostly couturiers attending to ladies who lunch. This month, the Fashion Cafe unveiled the new casualwear by batik maestro Iwan Tirta. Instead of gold-painted silks, Tirta sent jeans and khakis down the catwalk. You no longer have to wait for the Gap to come to Jakarta -- generic basics are already here.

Two weeks before Tirta's show, European designers were under the Fashion Cafe's spotlight. Luxury label distributors PT Mahagaya Perdana staged its 1996 Fall show of collections by Milan-based Prada, Hugo Boss, and Escada. Prada showed their ubiquitous Mary Jane shoes, along with cashmere sweaters and graphic-printed coats. That these winter wraps will sell like hotcakes in this tropical climate indicates the designer labels' hypnotic spell on Indonesia's nouveau riche.

Designer labels

A stroll through Plaza Indonesia or Plaza Senayan can confirm the hypnosis. There are two Gucci boutiques in Jakarta -- that's one more than in the whole of Germany. Funky New York designer Todd Oldham opened his first boutique in Southeast Asia here, as did couturier Oscar de la Renta. Paloma Picasso paid Jakarta a visit and opened her eponymous boutique. The latest boutiques to open were Calvin Klein's CK Collection and Donna Karan's DKNY, both at Plaza Indonesia. Planning on going to Singapore for a shop-a-thon? Why bother? Nearly all the labels shoppers sought overseas are now sold here in the comfort of air-conditioned malls.

But while local designers lament the dominance of international-name boutiques, the influx of imports are also widening choices for victimes de la mode, and injecting much- needed creativity. In the spring, Issey Miyake's fashion show, in celebration of the boutique opening at Plaza Senayan, stunned audiences for its non-sensical approach to modern dressing. Instead of being a gala dinner, the event was a casual affair using unconventional models and choreography.

The Singapore-based Glamourette Group of Shops also opened a flagship store in Plaza Senayan, bringing in the collections of avant-garde Belgian designers Ann Deumelemeester, Dries Van Noten and Dirk Bikkemberg. In asymmetrical shapes and vivid colors, these clothes require an attitude money can't buy -- a refreshing alternative to the staid gold-encrusted suits of the rich but uninspired. Ingenuity is also on the shelves at new boutiques Romeo Gigli, Paul Smith and Alberta Ferreti, at Plaza Indonesia.

To local designers, the arrival of these boutiques threaten not only their livelihoods, but also their artistic integrity. Local designers insist that they are "inspired" by European and American collections, but industry insiders accept some local collections as outright copies. Now that their "inspirations" are available under the same roof, local designers are pressed to forge their own creative path.

Some are striding confidently, others are stumbling. These new challenges were confronted at Jakarta's first-ever Fashion Week, held last month at the Jakarta Convention Center. Sixty-two designers presented their collections during five days of non- stop posing. Organizer and designer Poppy Dharsono explained the venture as an attempt to get "a sounding from the market of what we can offer them."

Prada tributes

The market is as yet undecided (the collections will not be sold in stores until April), but some of what the designers offered were difficult to witness, much less purchase. Here, there, and everywhere, were tributes to Prada, Helmut Lang and Gucci, currently fashion's biggest movers and shakers.

But there were lone wolves among the flock of sheep, at least momentarily. The best collections came from designers either with coherent, individual visions, or with a love of traditional textiles. Biyan, Ronald Gaghana, Ina Rachma, Tuti Cholid, Hutama Adhi, Ghea Panggabean, Sebastian Gunawan, Stephanus Hamy, Nanik Rachmat, Ardianto Pranata -- the list of great designers isn't endless, but it's substantial enough to give hope to local retailers. Metro Department Store will showcase the collections of the Indonesian Fashion Designers Council in April, as well as allow space for some collections from the rival Indonesian Fashion Designers Association.

This year, financial support also came from the textile industry, particularly foreign textile producers. Both the International Wool Secretariat and the French Linen Association sponsored select local designers to present wool and linen collections for two grand shows. While success for "cool wool" may need a few more years of campaigning, the progress in producing batik wool may expand market potential for local batik designers.

In contrast, linen producers are trying to convince consumers that porous linen is perfect for tropical weather. High prices, however, may prevent buyers from sporting those chic linen wrinkles.

But what about the clothes? For what are the hip opening their Louis Vuitton wallets? Well, that depends on the good sense of the clothes-horses in question.

For example, the military look has carried over from the Spring collections to the Fall shows. That means more epaulets, camouflage, and all shades of browns and greens. Dark earth colors are fine for pale folk on a chilly stroll through leafy parks, but tend to make the olive-skinned resemble Kermit the Frog. Besides, anyone who has been in an Army-and-Navy store should feel ashamed to spend millions of rupiah on a parka rip- off.

Geek chic is still going strong, but with modified inspirations. Designers argue about exactly what these "inspirations" are, but a visit to either your mother's closet or a second-hand store will clarify the confusion. It's a wonder that designers can still find trends to copy from the Seventies -- perhaps the Seventies revival will actually last longer than the Nineties itself. For now, it's that era's polyester pants, graphic prints, wrap-dresses and long cardigans that are hot on the catwalks.

But while retro remains sacred to fashionphiles, modern is also a popular buzzword. Make that modern minimalism. This is the year Calvin Klein, who has been doing simple chic for a decade, followed the cue of current minimalist guru Helmut Lang. Lang's T-shirts and straight-legged pants, in basic colors like black and white, may look undesigned, but he is spearheading the movement towards slim, and slimmer, silhouettes. In fact, his skinny armholes and merciless lean shapes have drawn criticism for championing a look that only models, like those at Jakarta's Fashion Cafe, can wear.