Indonesian fashion students seek more sense and dollars
Indonesian fashion students seek more sense and dollars
By Dini S. Djalal
JAKARTA (JP): It's been a hectic year for fashion folk in
Indonesia.
New mall openings, boutique launchings by international
designers such as Oscar De La Renta and Manolo Blahnik, and a
spotlight on the CNN program "Style with Elsa Klensch," has left
the country's most chic breathless in their Gucci suits.
The hours spent rubbing elbows under glaring lights has taken
its toll. Both international fashion houses and local designers
are retreating from the stage to concentrate on what they
arguably do best: designing.
That means fewer and less grandiose fashion shows. For
example, this year's annual Young Designers Contest held by the
Indonesian Fashion Designers Council was more modest than years
past. Held at the Omni Batavia recently, the show was a window to
the fantasies of fashion students, yet not a fantasy in itself.
Even the contestants showed a more sober attitude towards
fashion. Whereas last year blue-haired cyberpunks and kitsch
clowns swaggered through the contest, this year the only gasps
were heard when five male models shed their monastic robes to
reveal buff bodies strapped in bondage leather gear. By offering
S & M style worthy of Newt Gingrich's venom, Kurniawan, a
contestant in the men's fashion's category, gave the show some
needed shock value.
In contrast, by sending models out in linen hunting vests and
plaid trousers -- in tune with the grunge style popular at his
alma mater, the Art Institute of Seattle -- winner of the men's
category Ferry Salim expressed a more modest masculinity.
Cute and Sterile
Little else turned heads. Ian Adriant, winner of the Audience
Favorite award, glued flower appliques on all his black-and-white
designs, from T-shirts to linen shorts to zippered suits to
organdy ball gowns. A pair of fluid linen trousers stood out --
the rest were lost in a sterile mist of cuteness.
The next contestant, graduate of Singapore's Lasalle
International Fashion School Yuliana Hartanto, sent models down
in thigh-high silver boots and shoulder-padded pastel-colored
suits. Yuliana says her theme is the future, but obviously the
sunny space-traveling future interpreted by 1960s television
shows rather than the dark abyss of millennium watchers.
Abdul Malik Moestaram from Bandung also derived inspiration
from television re-runs, particularly cowboy shows. The result?
Fanciful shirt-dresses and suits in rust and mustard, fit only
for the rodeo or Dolly Parton's closet.
Yet inspirations don't have to lead one down the dusty path.
Liliana's collection was entitled "guitar", and stocked with
expertly-cut dresses patterned with sinuous guitar shapes. One
bias-cut, one-shouldered evening gown should have been given an
honorary prize for brilliantly manifesting an idea with both
savvy and subtlety.
First-prize winner Maryana Butar-Butar also had bright ideas,
but showed more restraint in her silhouettes, and intentionally
so. "Even though my designs are different, I still had to think
about its commercial value. What's the point of being a designer
if your clothes don't sell?," Maryana told The Jakarta Post.
So while Maryana's stark black-and-white ensembles won kudos
for its inspirational application of benang-benang kusut (tangled
thread), they also scored points for being functional. The simple
silhouettes of sleeveless shifts, shirt-dresses, and small-
shouldered suits, became even more wearable for working women
when paired with matching handbags and utilitarian eyeglasses.
Will the avant-garde librarian look sell in Singapore, where
Maryana will be Indonesia's contestant at the ASEAN Young
Designers Contest on Sept. 20? This 23-year-old graduate of the
U.K.'s Kent Institute of Art and Design is hopeful, but obviously
nervous. "It's a lot of weight on my shoulders to represent
Indonesia," said Maryana.
Yet well-known designer and contest jury Ghea Panggabean says
that, given her overseas schooling, Maryana is well-placed to
win. "She's very international, that's why we gave her first
prize," said Ghea.
And the lack of "ethnic" flavor in the designs -- often a
deciding factor in regional competitions -- is no longer a
handicap. In a reflection of the worldwide trend towards a
homogeneous minimalist style, Ghea explained that contests in
Jakarta and Singapore do not always look for "ethnic or national"
content.
"What's important is creativity, wearability, and cut," said
Ghea. For example, last year Indonesian participant Elizabeth
Wijaya walked away with three prizes, both national and regional,
for her Charlie Chaplin theme collection.
Second-prize winner Wiyani Damayanti, a graduate of famed
Parisian fashion school ESMOD, also displayed cosmopolitan rather
than traditional flair. Apple-green sheer dresses worn over
1950s-style swimsuits, geometric prints in an eclectic mix of
vegetable hues, military details as well as ties on chiffon
evening-wear -- all were subtle winks at Prada-ish geek chic and
Gucci-fied Seventies style.
"She won for her alternative style, and her bravery in mixing
her colors," Ghea said of Wiyani.
But was it the overseas education of all the winners that
helped them triumph? "Of course," said Ghea. "When you go to
school abroad, your horizons are wider, you see more. This is
good not only for students, but for the fashion industry."
Maryana agrees that overseas fashion schools offer a better
education than local academies. "If you are serious about being a
designer, you should study at the world's fashion centers. There
they don't offer you a half-hearted education, but really teach
you everything," said Maryana.
More intensive schools mean more serious fashion students, and
consequently, designers. "Because the students learn the whole
spectrum of fashion, consumers get something more original. Many
local students end up resorting to copying other designers," said
Maryana.
The tendency to imitate can be avoided, Maryana added. She
said that most local students have six months of fashion
schooling before venturing into the industry, while overseas
graduates study for several years. "Local students just need more
nurturing, more training."