Indonesia's Sebastian Gunawan tailors to fit the woman

By Dini S. Djalal

JAKARTA (JP): Booming, thriving and skyrocketing are words often used to describe Indonesia's retail industry.

Yet while international labels took advantage of an aspirational nouveau riche eager for the latest imports, local designers watched customers pass them by. Garments sporting the label "Made in Indonesia" littered the atriums of department stores, but gathering dust instead of cash.

It is therefore inspiring to find an Indonesian designer triumphant in both custom-tailoring -- the staple moneymaker for local talent -- and in-store retailing. It's more encouraging still to find an accomplished designer still in his youth.

Sebastian Gunawan fits the bill. He has not yet turned 30, but within five years of learning the business, he can lay claim to a pool of clients for his couture Sebastian Gunawan collection and, with his wife Cristina Panarese, one of Indonesia's most successful second-line labels, Votum.

Demand for Votum is constant and impressive. This season's collection will only make it to the stores in two weeks time, but half of what was shown last week at Hotel Borobudur Inter- Continental -- the first time a designer bridge line was shown on its own -- is already sold out.

"Before (the debut solo show last year), Votum made only Rp 3 million to Rp 5 million a month. Now we sell triple or even four times that amount," said Sebastian. At Metro department stores, Votum's occupation of the local designer counter's center spot verifies its selling power, although Sebastian is the first to admit it is not easy keeping Votum's position.

"If you don't sell a certain amount, Metro will kick you off," he said. If the unlikely were to happen, there are always other vendors. Votum is also available at Sogo department stores and Pasaraya.

Italy to Harmoni

Don't dismiss his popularity with the Jakarta fashion elite as passing hype, as Sebastian has worked hard for his achievements. He spent his teens studying at Susan Budihardjo fashion school in Jakarta, before moving to Los Angeles and graduating from the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising.

Italy was Sebastian's next stop. In Milan, he studied fashion illustration at the Instituto Artistico Dell Abbigliamento Marangoni.

It was while sketching grandiose gowns that he met Cristina, a fellow student whom he married in 1993. Now they share a daughter, two-year-old Alessia, and a business.

Cristina not only works with Sebastian in fine-tuning Votum's twice-yearly collections, but is also in charge of its manufacturing. She provides Sebastian with an invaluable female perspective on what real women can and will wear, reminding him of a woman's need to camouflage physical imperfections.

It's a humbling process, and a gainful one in the world of ready-to-wear. "Sometimes I design with special clients in mind, clients who can show anything she wants, so I don't set a limit. But she sets limits," said Sebastian.

The helpful feedback goes both ways. Sebastian will reconsider Cristina's choice of colors, or decolletage.

"If she wants to use dark brown or certain other colors, I tell her that Indonesian skin is too dark for them. And if a gown is cut too low, I tell her that it's not appropriate for this culture."

Heeding local cultural esthetics complements their business savvy, as does attention to quality. What is noticeable about the collections of Sebastian and Votum are masterful cutting and keen choice of fabrics which exceed local standards of professionalism.

Fine finishing is as important to Sebastian as keeping hip. When a customer tells Sebastian of her latest Votum purchase, he anxiously asks, "Is the cut right? Do you like the feel of the fabric? Does it hang well?". Unlike other designers caught up in the latest trends, Sebastian is not just selling an image, he is selling comfort.

He is also selling beauty, and to an acceptable extent, whimsy. Votum's most recent collection has all the makings of a winner: fashionability, quality, wearability, and individuality.

Trimmed with lace and embroidery, cut lean to the body in soft-to-the-touch fabrics, the designs were beautiful pieces with just the right amount of irreverence and drama. The witty styling helped set the mood; models toyed with cloth-flower chokers and swung their corn-row braids like modern-day Pocahontas on a belated romp through psychedelia.

The fun came in a package -- all the outfits had matching wedge-heeled sandals, sometimes in satin chinoiserie patterns, and handbags, stockings and scarves.

Most important is that Votum women -- waists defined, hips trimmed, and thighs only slightly bared -- looked good. Graphic A-line shifts, painted with a palette of ivory, toffee, espresso, and black obsidian, flatteringly carved out a waist, with color rather than scissors.

The secret is in accentuating or hiding with colors and linear patterns the problematic parts of the body, Sebastian said. And the secret which helps women look their best is the secret to making the same women reach for their credit cards.

"Color-blocking makes women slimmer, that's what I am playing at," he said. "I wanted to take a women's silhouette and give her another, better one."

-- Dini S. Djalal