Innovative fashion pioneer died on eve of major show

Innovative fashion pioneer died on eve of major show

By Rita A. Widiadana and Dini S. Djalal

JAKARTA (JP): His first dream was to be a famous architect, but he ended up as one of Indonesia's top fashion designers.

He was none other than Prayudi Admodirdjo, who passed away on Thursday night, a day before his latest fashion show.

Prayudi, together with other designers grouped in the Indonesian Fashion Designer Council set to create new fashion trends for the coming year, was scheduled to show his latest collection at the Jakarta Hilton Convention Center yesterday afternoon.

He was admitted to Medistra Hospital on Jl. M.T. Haryono, South Jakarta, four days before the show.

According to his sister-in-law, Lily Admodirdjo, Prayudi, 50, underwent surgery but the hospital's team of doctors was not very optimistic. He died of pancreatic failure at 5:45 p.m. at the hospital. He is survived by his only son, Markus Admodirdjo, who is currently studying in the United States. His body is being kept in the Meruya Ilir funeral home in West Jakarta and will be cremated on Sunday morning.

Caring person

Biyan, a promising young designer, commented during the Indonesian Designer Council fashion show yesterday that Prayudi's death shocked all members of local fashion circle.

"Besides being a very close friend of mine, he was just a very caring person. Right to the end, though he was suffering, he was only thinking on how the show should be. He wanted everything to be the best," said Biyan, who accompanied Prayudi to the hospital.

Designer Ramli said that no one can replace Prayudi. "We still don't have someone who can follow in his footsteps. I was very proud of him. He was one designer who could foster the development of local fashion," Ramli said.

Top model Ratih Sanggar said that she was sure Prayudi was still watching them. "We are now very sad," said Ratih who displayed Prayudi's collection at the recent Merah putih fashion show.

Designer Carmanita commented that Prayudi was never stingy with his knowledge of modern and traditional fashion. "He always shared his expertise with his colleagues and with younger designers. We regard him as our best friends as well as our teacher who always encouraged us," Carmanita said.

Born in Jakarta on Jan. 15, l945, Prayudi, the third son of Harsono Admodirdjo and Fien Finawaty Liem, was sent by his parents to Germany to study architecture. However, after studying architecture for only eight months, he quit and took up fashion instead.

He enrolled at the Akademie Bekleidungs Technicker und Mode in Aschaffenburg, Germany. After graduating, Prayudi took an advance study on fashion at the Deutsche Bekleidung Akademie Muller and Sohn in Dusseldorf, Germany. In l970, he started his fashion career with the Margot Strauss Studio in Nurenberg, Germany.

When he returned to Indonesia in l972, Prayudi soon shook the local fashion circle with his bold ideas, which were considered quite "crazy" at the time.

Prayudi introduced new concepts in using traditional textiles, such as batik, ikat (traditional woven textile) and songket (gold embroidery textiles), as primary materials in his fashion designs. He also developed stitch and dye styles for these traditional textiles.

"At that time nobody wanted to wear batik to a party. They were afraid of being called out-of-fashion," Prayudi once said.

Wearing traditional dresses like batik, songket and kebaya (traditional women's blouse) is complicated and troublesome for many Indonesian women. In Prayudi's hands, these traditional textiles were tailored into elegant and chic haute couture evening dresses, cocktail dresses and ready-to-wear outfits.

Prayudi cleverly modified batik paintings and ikat motives on soft silk materials. But his "trademark" was the Kebaya Prayudi, a modification of the traditional blouse into a modern-styled one.

He consistently modified other kinds of traditional textiles from the country's 27 provinces, such as sasirangan, the woven textiles from Bali, Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara, East Nusa Tenggara, East Timor, and songket from Sumatra, Sulawesi and Kalimantan.

Proud

Local women, particularly celebrities who were previously victims of western fashion, began to eye Prayudi's creations.

Mien Uno, head of John Robert Powers etiquette and modeling school, said she was proud to wear Prayudi's kebaya and ikat dresses.

Not only Indonesian women love Prayudi's collections. A number of prominent figures, including Queen Juliana of the Netherlands, Mrs. Nancy Reagan and Mrs. Imelda Marcos adored his styles.

"When I returned from Germany, I had a dream that someday Asia would become a source of inspiration for fashion designers in the West. Now, many of them explore ideas from the East. Why do Indonesian designers ignore our rich culture?" Prayudi once lamented.

He said that a number of international designers, such as Ralph Lauren, Max Mara, Giorgio Armani, Paul Smith and Anne Klein, have used batik in their latest collections.

Together with Iwan Tirta, Prayudi was in the forefront in the promotion of Indonesian designs and traditional textiles worldwide. Every year, he displayed creations in Indonesia, as well as overseas.

His tireless efforts eventually bore fruit. In l987, Prayudi received an Upakarti, the highest achievement award for distinguished individuals from the Indonesian government, for his great contribution to the development of the local fashion industry, as well as the promotion of traditional textiles.

Although some younger designers, like Ghea Sukarya, have followed in Prayudi's path, the majority of local designers still prefer to leave out traditional textiles.

Young designer Edward Hutabarat argued that using traditional textiles in fashion is costly and inefficient.

"Many designers are only small-scale entrepreneurs. We don't have enough money to do research and experiment in using ethnic textiles," Edward said.

However, Prayudi insisted that his consistency in using ethnic textiles was based on his own idealism.

"It is not commercial work," he once said.

Prayudi's main intention is to arouse people's appreciation of Indonesian textiles.

"I feel so sad when I see that many Indonesian women willingly spend their money on a lace gown by a Western designer, but are reluctant to open their purses to buy our ikat dresses," Prayudi sighed.

Promoting and using traditional textiles in fashion is "hard work". A designer has to study the history and the philosophy of these textiles because some of them are considered to have religious and spiritual functions. The designer should not exploit the materials for commercial purposes, if he wants to promote them.

A close relationship between the designer, provincial government and craftspeople is a must. The designer also has a duty to improve the technical and management skills of local textile weavers.

Prayudi was among the lucky ones. Last year, the Bimantara Foundation provided enough funds to carry out research and a survey on traditional textiles in Nusa Tenggara and other provinces.

"We should be proud of our rich textiles. I hope many people will take more attention to the development of local textiles," he said.

Prayudi said that he was glad that he became a designer instead of an architect. "I will continue to promote Indonesian fashion until I die," he once said.

His journey in the world of fashion is over, but his spirit remains alive in lovers of Indonesian fashion.