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."