Fashion students skirt the boundaries of creativity

Text by Stevie Emilia, photos by Arief Suhardiman

JAKARTA (JP): Picture a model trying her hardest to walk elegantly despite the VW car tires coiled stylishly in her neat hair, hanging off her ears and enclasping her hands and ankles, as her domed red skirt bears two flashing headlights and a car's license plate number.

It may be fit for the road, but is it wearable? Yes, according to the jury of the Concours International des Jeunes Createurs de Mode, which chose the finalists for the Paris grand final this December.

VW Trend Car by Lie Lie Muljadi was one of 10 designs picked from 39 contestants in the semifinal competition -- centered on the theme of traveling -- held at Le Meridien Hotel on Nov. 14.

Sri Yulyanti's Bag offers a futuristic design of a luminous white gown, with black bags wrapped around the model's neck and waist, and matching sunglasses and Chinese-style cap.

Sun Glasses by Natalina Deviani stunned the audience with its slender transparent slip, which left little to the imagination, and by the accentuating black sunglasses as bodice, necklace and shoe accessories.

Maria Brigitta Linania served up the exotic with her creation, A Typical Wood Forest, featuring an orange miniskirt wrapped by brown tassels -- alluding to the forest's tangled roots -- and a matching top with "roots" as necklace.

Macu Monika's Sweet Ornament was so bizarre it made one wonder whether inspiration came from the story of the prince and the pauper, instead of the latest fashion trends.

The title of Sri Mulyani's design, Beautiful Left Over, was not reflected in the creation, which was made out of coiled strands of film adorning both the pants and the model's hair. Not surprisingly, it gave her a striking resemblance to wild-haired Dutch soccer player Ruud Gullit.

Other creations included Blue Ethnic by David Harsepuny, a feminine translation of traveling into a miniskirt matched with gloves, necklaces and cap inspired by a hedgehog.

The design which blended the contest's theme with a touch of local ethnic designs, Wild Wild East by Mery Kantono, borrows from Kalimantan's leather crafts in a tricolored dress in red, black and yellow.

Supriantho Djawana's The Rucksack Jacket, the Dayak Basket, also inspired by the native people of Kalimantan, had a dark brown miniskirt with leather top and jacket, accompanied by matching backpack.

A beautiful creation of Shinta Suryani Dwihartianti, Butterfly from Java, was of a columnar blue dress combined with a transparent scarf, Javanese mask and butterfly attached serenely at the waist.

These were the winners, and unlike the previous five competitions, this year's jury did not give the nod to ethnic- themed entries, even though there were plenty to choose from on the runway.

Left out was Indonesia in Miniature by Sulistya Ningtyas, scaled-down representations on the skirt of national landmarks -- the National Monument (Monas), Istiqlal Grand Mosque and Borobudur Temple among them -- and Am Darmadi's Borobudur, featuring a ballgown with the temple's structure.

Head of the 14-member jury, Pia Alisjahbana, said the ethnic agenda had not been paramount in the selection consideration.

"This contest prioritizes the students' creativity in designing their works," Pia, director of the Femina publishing group, told The Jakarta Post.

Other designs which fit the requirements on the traveling theme and wearability were also shut out, including Sky in the Mountain by Rodua Yulianti, and Bird Fly Around the World by Santoso.

Several designs were so outlandish that it was a stretch to imagine how they conformed to the contest's criteria.

This was true of Amin Fahriyah's The Art of Sparepart of Car, which resembled VW Trend Car, except for the headlights glaring from the waistband of the tire-shaped skirt.

Windrini Angkasawati's cryptically named The Jungle of Bottons would make the wearer look like she was auditioning for Jane in the Tarzan tale, and it would require formidable self-confidence to go out in public in The Tailor Rubbish by Yuliandri Eka Putra and Andri Wang.

In their zeal for creativity, which ran to elaborate collections of accessories, perhaps the concept of traveling light never crossed the designers' minds.

Like the VW Trend Car design, most of the winners flouted the boundaries of definitions of wearability.

"The (VW Trend Car) design is not so complicated as it appears on stage. I believe it will attract the Paris audience," Pia said.

Designers were required to make the creations without assistance.

"It would be embarrassing if the finalists won in Paris but didn't know how to make it own their own," Pia said.

Five other finalists won the Concours International de Monnaie de Paris des Jeunes Createurs de Bijoux for their accessories.

Selected were Primitive Elegance by Aaron Nugroho Rusli, Circle by Lucky Wijayanti, Satu Rasa by F. Puspitasari, Pesona Asmat by Catur Bina Prasetyo and Interchange by M. Billiton.

The winners may have gained prestige, but money is another matter. Each of the 10 finalists received Rp 1 million, but they will have to pay to enter the Paris competition, not to mention the airfare and accommodation expenses.

But then nobody said that making it big in Indonesian fashion would be easy, even though the grim facts would probably scare away poor but talented designers.