'MTV'-style clothing functions as fashion fix for label junkies
By Emma Cameron
JAKARTA (JP): MTV. It's an acronym that is recognized the world over and instantly conjures up images of slickly produced music videos and young, funky presenters.
The image was not let down with the opening of the new MTV music and fashion shop at Plaza Indonesia on Tuesday. The shop is the second to open in Jakarta, the first being in Plaza Senayan. A third store will open in December at Rimo, Mal Taman Anggrek, West Jakarta.
The marketing machine was in overdrive as guests and media alike were treated to finger food and soft drinks; the buttering up of the media even extended to a free T-shirt. Music played as people mingled and stuffed their faces, but the early 1990s music, such as the now obscure Spin Doctors, seemed a strange choice for a hip, new MTV launch.
With a large chunk of the presentation in English, the shop is clearly catering to a Western-obsessed youth market.
The associate director of marketing and communication for MTV in Indonesia, Daniel Tumiwa, said the product was a response to the mainstream as "the product is basically what youth wear".
As a crowd began to gather around the main stage, drawn by the lights and the music, he said "we would prefer doing it in a car park". Parking lots, however, do not draw crowds and the display was merchandising at its finest.
The fashion parade began with the models dressed as convicts, breaking free of their shackles to reveal their MTV Style clothing.
The models all wore indigo jeans and sneakers. The males were decked out in loose-fitting V-neck T-shirts with a stripe along the middle. The females wore tight-fitting tank tops with a contrasting trim for the straps and surrounding edges. The colors were white, gray, red and blue.
They then simulated robots to show off The New Millennium Collection, supposedly inspired by technology, computers, spaceships and the sun with colors such as "spaceship silver", "sky blue", "computer gray" and "neon-sign white".
One female model wore a black-hooded, sleeveless top with white baggy pants. Also on display were white knee-length jeans with black vertical trim on the cuff, a long-sleeved scoop neck top in skin color, three-quarter-length black pants with scattered flowers, khaki short shorts and a light blue top with a tie neck, three-quarter-length sleeve.
The males were largely confined to jeans and T-shirts, with one model sporting a light blue short-sleeved shirt. The collection also featured accessories such as shoulder bags with an angular cut and shiny finish which do inspire thoughts of the space age.
Described in the press release as "unique", the use of robot models was probably appropriate aside from the new millennium theme. The collection is one for the label junkies and anyone with a fashion fetish.
Nearly all the tops had the MTV logo emblazoned on the chest. This is not a shop that is about to set alight the fashion world, nor is it supposed to be. It is about marketing a popular program with an established street cred to an existing audience. If you are looking to break free of the shackles of teenage fashion, the MTV shop is not the place to go.
In terms of convenience for the consumer (and impulse buying for the marketing team) the store is a good idea. The two staples of teenage life -- music and fashion -- are combined in the one store with the availability of CDs and videos as well as clothing.
The sale of CDs also provides the link to MTV and meant the opening could indulge in some name dropping with the group Lingua and the singer Sonia both doing a couple of numbers (wearing MTV Style, of course)! Sonia declared "I think it's pretty cool", despite maintaining her distinct style with her own fur-trimmed coat and shiny, black hot pants -- items that we will not be seeing in an MTV store anytime in the near future.
All in all, the opening was very slick, with the exception being the backing music breaking down for Lingua, which was fixed after a little awkward ad-libbing by the group. The crowd was kept laughing by the host, Jamie, whose status as a veejay on MTV meant he was more than qualified for the task.
He was also helped out by Greg who is currently the host of Bangkok Jam and played the role of hapless foreigner well as volunteers from the audience who attempted a a catwalk seduction of him in promise of a prize. When Jamie said "We're talking about something you can wear, we're talking about something you can buy", he was right. Just do not go into MTV Style expecting to come out looking like a pop star or a veejay.