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.