Fashion looks to used phone cards, coconuts

By Stevie Emilia

JAKARTA (JP): What will people wear in the future? Forget chic or elegant dresses made out of silk or chiffon. The answer is plastic, newspapers, coconut shells and even used telephone cards.

Some might raise their eyebrows to these "creative" designs, wondering whether they are wearable.

However, this is how young fashion students have translated the theme Concours International des Jeunes Createurs de Mode, fashion in millennium era, onto the catwalk.

These "stunning" designs have also resulted in 10 out of 38 young designers being selected as finalists by a seven-member jury to compete in the Paris grand final in December.

Head of the jury, Pia Alisjahbana, said that in the competition, the young designers were free to express their creativity.

"In this contest, we prioritize the students' creativity and originality in designing. But I'm sure that all the student designers from 15 countries competing in Paris will also present various designs just like these," Pia, director of the Femina publishing group, told The Jakarta Post.

In the jury of the contest, which was organized by Dewi magazine, Air France and L'oreal, were fashion designers Biyan, Poppy Dharsono and Sebastian Gunawan.

After watching the contest, particularly Sulistya Ningtyas' design, phone-card users might think twice before throwing their used cards away.

In her design, Sulistya, from the Bunka school of fashion, joined phone cards together to create a brown knee-length dress with matching boots and accessories.

Another student designer, Lasma Siregar also from Bunka, received warm applause from the audience for her Coconut Woman design.

In her design, she transformed coconut shells into a Madonna- style brassiere, right down to the sharp points, with a see- through miniskirt, leaving a lot of room for the imagination.

Another design, Plastic Beauty 1 by Veronica from Interstudy, might please environmentalists, who have long rejected the use of fur in the fashion world.

Veronica created a fur-like light blue plastic coat over a blue mini dress and blue open-top shoes.

Alien movies can also inspire designers, like Oniari Sitompul from Susan Budihardjo Jakarta.

Her winning design, a white plastic top with skirt and plastic knee-high boots, is ordinary. But the model might find it hard to breath with plastic head gear covering her face, not to mention wires and cables attached, reminiscent of a diver's equipment.

Inspired by May's Trisakti tragedy, Sheetal Bharwani from the Indotex LaSalle fashion school created Devastation.

Large newspaper-like headlines, stating Four students killed at Trisakti rally, along with the pictures of the incident, could be seen perfectly from a distance on the model's long black and white dress.

"At that time, everyone felt devastated, including me. So my emotion is reflected in my design," Sheetal told the Post.

It took her a month to finish her design. "I had to look for the papers first...," she added.

Other finalists selected during the contest, held at the Mulia Hotel's ballroom on Friday Nov. 6, were Puspa Yenti, from Asride Iswi, with her creation Simplicity; Yacoba Kalangi, from the Jakarta Arts Institute, with Natural, Vivi Muliady, from Susan Budihardjo Surabaya, with Queen of Bagger; Lusiana, from the Jakarta Arts Institute, with All Seasons; and Gatot Satria, from Indotex LaSalle, with Borderless Tomorrow.

Top model Ratih Sanggarwati praised the students' creativity.

"The designs are for the millennium era, so the students were free to translate the theme into their works. Still, they have to consider the wearability factor, including the shoes and accessories," Ratih told the Post.

"And I think the 10 finalists are the most wearable designs," she added.

Ten other students won the Concours International de Monnaie de Paris des Jeunes Createurs de Bijoux for their accessory designs.

Selected were Apogee by Lydia, Qubik by Norhazanah, The Kite by Leon Chen, Cleopatra by Yogi, Iguana by Aldy, Exotic Star by Maria B. Linania, Aphis by Nurisa Ika Ambarsari, Ballary by Yanti Rima Melati, Articular by Mia Kusmiati and Cat Eyes by Dalni.