Indonesia to host Asia fashion contest
Indonesia to host Asia fashion contest
JAKARTA (JP): Indonesian fashion is at last targeting the
international market earnestly. In celebration of Indonesia's
50th independence anniversary, the Indonesian Fashion Designers'
Association (AAPMI) will hold its first Asia Fashion Design
Competition from August 8 - 11.
The competition, expected to involve designers from 11
countries, including India, Vietnam, and Japan, is the most
ambitious and far-reaching event the local fashion industry has
attempted. International or Asia-wide fashion design competitions
are usually held only in Japan, Singapore, or Hong Kong.
"We don't want to just participate in other people's
competitions", said AAPMI director Poppy Dharsono, "We want to
establish our own international stage".
The competition, which will be held at the Sahid Jaya Hotel,
will be judged by an international team of design experts,
including fashion editors Jenny Capitain from France's Vogue and
Yumiko Hara from Japan's Mainichi Simbun.
The first winner will receive US$15,000, while second and
third winners will receive $10,000 and $5,000 respectively.
Inspired by the perseverance of traditional handicrafts, AAPMI
has declared The Beauty of Asia Heritage as its theme. All
designs must utilize local handicrafts and textile arts.
Dharsono declares the promotion of local handicrafts a
necessity, because "we have so many craftspeople, and we must
help them flourish".
Showcasing handicrafts on an international stage will also add
to their prestige, she said. "AAPMI wants to transform
handicrafts into a value-added product."
Indonesia will present the works of four aspiring designers
who will be selected from a nationwide competition, to be held on
July 14 at Jakarta's Grand Metro Equatorial Hotel.
The competition is open to designers under 30 years old and
who do not have their own label.
Foreign entries are selected from the winner of similar
national competitions.
The Asia Fashion Design Competition 1995 also celebrates the
birth of the Indonesian Design Center. Widagdo, a professor of
Bandung's Institute of Technology explained that the center, the
function of which includes inventorying, promotion and
consultation, is "still at the embryonal stage".
Yet its arrival has been long awaited.
"Even the Philippines had a national design center 20 years
ago," Widagdo said. In Southeast Asia, only Brunei does not have
a design center.
"Indonesia has a lot of catching up to do," commented Sidik
Prawira, Director General of Small Businesses and Co-operatives
at the Department of Industry. Prawira adds that such an
institution will foster better design, and this will "improve the
technology of small businesses, and hence improve efficiency."
(Dini Djalal)