Ronald V. Gaghana roaring on empty

Syahmedi Dean, Contributor, Jakarta

Ronald V. Gaghana, 43, is one Indonesian fashion designer whose creations are always eagerly awaited.

On April 28, he, again, represented his latest ideas with 60 designs featured in a fashion show held in the ballroom of the Mulia Hotel in Jakarta. The theme of the show was the "Roaring Twenties", calling to mind a decade in which fashion underwent rapid changes and which gave birth to the term "modernist fashion", which was embraced by designers who wanted to move away from Victorian and Edwardian-styles of dressing that curbed movement and constrained people.

These modernist fashion designers included Coco Chanel, who introduced the term "the modern woman" and the "little black dress", Lanvin with his dropped-waist dresses, Elsa Schiaparelli with her body-hugging swimsuits and Paul Poiret, who turned pajamas into an element of modern evening wear.

The decade of the '20s is associated with straight lines, bobbed hair, flat breasts, boyish bodies and minimalist and modern Art Deco (the film Chicago shows all these things very graphically). All these items constitute a very rich source of ideas waiting to be explored.

In his attempt to reintroduce the glory of the 1920s, Ronald leaned heavily on the dropped-waist silhouette, a silhouette in the form of a gown, the upper and lower parts of which are connected to the waist (usually given a ribbon knot, a waist belt or other ornaments).

One interesting creation was a beige satin gown with a green ribbon knot on the waist. Ronald gave the a necklace made of Art Deco-style beads. Although it represents a style that prevailed in the 1920s, this look maintains its modernity even today. However, the dropped-waist line of the gown that the model wore went down to the upper thighs, therefore causing the gown to look too loose and destroying the proportions of the model.

From Ronald's point of view, the 1920s were known only for the dropped-waist silhouette only. What about the everything else? Ronald went far and wide for his creative ideas. His best design was a chiffon full skirt plus a golden-colored long-sleeved jacket, very chic but, unfortunately, not in the least reflecting the Roaring Twenties. Instead, it represented the New Look style of the 1950s.

Many other gowns were ornamented with a lot of beads without giving an Art Deco impression. A skirt made of several pieces of cloth has all too often featured in Ronald's shows, as it did again this time. (Enough, Ronald!) It seems that he ran out of ideas. The skirt gave the impression that it had too many elements so it was not pretty too look at. In short, it was too busy.

The best color of the series of chosen colors available in the show was the tosca blue. This color was outstanding and injected a maximum fashion spirit, as with a gown with an inflated part of the 1950s style (again not the style of the 1920s). Other colors such as golden, red, beige and aqua blue were too often repeated and, therefore, not quite challenging. One thing unforgivable about the choice of colors was Ronald's combination of black and golden colors, two colors that are today quite beautiful but become boring when they are combined.

As a matter of fact, Ronald's designs were very fine, neat and of a high quality. However, his ability to fantasize and develop ideas is questionable. Several times the essence of his designs became lost in the theme of his choice, with the result that one got the impression Ronald did not have enough references and took a wrong step. His chosen theme became empty and provided no impression at all.

Unsurprisingly, the fashion public has begun to doubt Ronald's credibility despite his fame in Indonesia's world of fashion.

Usually, Ronald's designs are inseparable from the image of youthfulness, dynamism and modernity. His designs are suitable for women with a youthful spirit, combined with an energized, expressive and edgy disposition. Unfortunately, these characteristics of Ronald's designs were absent in his collection shown in the Roaring Twenties show. This time his designs reflected middle-aged women trying too hard to enjoy a second youth.