Regular fashion shows help batik house to beat crisis

By Izabel Deuff

JAKARTA (JP): Picture a backdrop of reddish wood, the top border of which is finely and intricately carved. A pink and grass-green batik divan stands in the central recess, above which hangs a short, red theater curtain. On each side of the stage, two golden-decorated doors wait for the last model to enter and exit the stage.

Here she comes, waving an off-white organdy selendang scarf. The diadem-headed model snakes on the red-carpeted dais in the wooden and coffered-ceiling room at the Rumah Batik Danar Hadi in Tebet, South Jakarta.

The burst of applause and the crackling of camera flashes blankets the swish of her silk garment. A flowery okra back-slit, knee-high skirt is worn under a loose, wide-sleeved kebaya, the overly ornamented fringes of which is trimmed with gold braid.

This outfit closed a sober but appreciated collection by Stephanus Hami for Batik Danar Hadi. It was the last of 30 outfits modeled last Friday.

"Four years ago, Danar Hadi started producing fashion shows to promote all of our new products. Every month, each of our boutiques (in Solo, Jakarta, Medan, Padang, Semarang, Yogyakarta, Surabaya, Ujungpandang and Bali) puts on a fashion show," said Syamsidar Isa, Batik Danar Hadi's public relations manager.

Stephanus' collection was divided into two groups. The first included bi-colored clothes: geometrical camel or maroon designs, echoed scarves, combined with the brown blouses, while other outfits played with white-and-black motifs on long, transparent batik blouses over ebony gowns. Far from clashing, the blouses' light organdy cloth perfectly balanced the pleated, tight-fitting skirts.

This series was followed by some ocre-shaded batiks. Stylized lotus flowers and cashmere designs bloomed on Nehru-collared and Chinese-buttoned shirts and silk sarongs, the motifs reminiscent of traditional Javanese patterns.

Chinese-inspired music announced a second trend in the collection. In contrast to the previously modeled outfits, the designer favored colorful and flowered batiks in this lineup.

The first models sporting this new trend modeled plain shirts softening the bright colors of floating chiffon scarves and slick satin silk sarongs. Both bore the same motif: chrysanthemum and other rose-like flowers cutting across a diagonally banded parang pattern. Each motif focused on one color: pistachio green, sky blue or lilac, whereas the flowers fashioned a garden of lavender blue, teal green, turquoise, deep red and magenta.

The final outfits were covered with designs as intricate as their predecessors but were much more subdued in color. A bit cautious, the designer showed a preference to return to classic tawny and ecru hues.

These outfits also showed off gold braids, embroidered pearls and black motifs. Even the shapes of the designs were more formal: the scooped necklines were cut in a heart shape, with the borders of each outfit charged with tiny motifs. One played with the common brown and beige parang motifs from Surakarta (Solo).

The motifs used on the five men's silk shirts, mostly geometrical except for the last two, were worn with monochrome dark pants. The fourth shirt was slate-gray, tinged with pink, green and black large motifs. The beige background of the last shirt made its black and fallow flowers and birds stand out.

Syamsidar said Batik Danar Hadi offered not only a 10 percent discount, but served its general customers with door-to-door service in which products could be delivered to customers' homes.

"Despite the economic collapse ... Indonesian people still like and buy batiks. Before they perhaps bought imported products. But now they are choosing local products. It is the best time to promote the in-house product," said Syamsidar.

The boutique's batik fashion shows are a good way to give women ideas of how to wear the classics in a contemporary way, she said.

"Especially for batiks, if they're only hanging, it's not interesting. But if you show batiks in a fashion show on models, they look totally different."

Designer Stephanus agreed, saying that he wanted to mix plain clothes with batiks since everybody did not necessarily like outfits made of only batik.

Stephanus does not only specialize in designing batiks. Although he began his career with batiks, he has worked with jumputan (dyes).

Mindful of the fashionable yet largely cautious public here, he said he knew designers should not scare away their customers by being too modern or too extravagant in their creations.

"Customers don't want to change. A lot of Indonesian designers can make a very innovative collection but after the show, the potential customers run away. They ask where they can wear those clothes. They look for clothes they can wear, something formal," Stephanus said, adding he preferred to slowly introduce ideas.

"They need something simple, easy to wear, without looking old-fashioned. But they need some batik," Stephanus said.

Indeed, the strategy seemed to pay off as the audience rushed after his batiks, priced from Rp 500,000 to Rp 2 million, immediately after the show.