Scherrer's designs expected to inspire local designers

By Dini S. Djalal

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia's fashion industry is determined to break onto the international stage. In August, the Indonesian Fashion Designers' Association (AAPMI) is inviting 11 Asian countries to take part in its first-ever Asia Fashion Design Competition.

When it was announced, the competition was the most ambitious event the Indonesian fashion industry had attempted to date.

"We don't want to just participate in other people's competitions," said AAPMI director Poppy Dharsono, "but also establish our own international stage."

The industry's other players, however, had their own designs. On May 25, Johnny Andrean Bridal Salon, in cooperation with the newly-established Indonesian Craft Design Development Foundation, held Haute Couture 1995. During a gala evening at the Shangri-La Hotel, the show paraded the 1995 Spring/Summer Collection of Parisian couture house Jean Louis Scherrer.

Pricey haute couture in "developing" Indonesia? "No, we're not selling the clothes now. The event is only for fund-raising and promotion," said designer Tina Andrean of Johnny Andrean Bridal Salon.

Specifically, the organizers want to promote and improve the quality of Indonesian handicrafts. The designs of Bernard Perris, Jean Louis Scherrer's couture designer, are thought capable of inspiring Indonesian craftspeople.

"We have to learn, from the masters, what it is that makes them famous internationally," said Hartini Hartarto, Director of the Indonesian Craft Design Development Foundation (YPDKI) and wife of Co-ordinating Minister for Industry and Trade Hartarto.

It was while Tina Andrean and Mrs. Hartarto were attending the Paris couture exhibitions in February that the seeds of the event were sown.

"We were shown the workshop of Jean Louis Scherrer -- even the fabric manufacturers'," said an enthusiastic Andrean. She contends that inviting international designers to Indonesia can only bring prestige and attention to the local fashion industry. Personal ambition is also a motive.

"My ultimate goal is to have my designs worn internationally, so that we have Johnny Andrean salons in Paris, in Italy," admitted Andrean.

The scope of the event may only be promotional, but such promotional work may go to great lengths. Bernard Perris disclosed that Jean Louis Scherrer recently signed a contract with a Thai company to manufacture and distribute a locally- produced line called Scherrer City. Cheaper materials and labor will result in a lower price range, which will be sold throughout Southeast Asia. Despite a slump experienced by other European couturiers following the Gulf War and subsequent economic recessions, Perris says that Scherrer's couture sales are rising.

"Our customers are primarily Middle-Eastern and Europeans, but our third-biggest market are Asians and Russians," said Perris.

Tina Andrean believes that Indonesia's handicrafts can gain from the development of local haute couture.

"The prospect of haute couture in Indonesia is great because we have so many talented craftspeople already. The future depends on the will of Indonesian designers," said Andrean.

Public appreciation of the manual arts is also a key aspect of Indonesian crafts development. In Paris an embroiderer commands the respect of his or her peers and is called a "master of embroidery." In Indonesia, a craftsperson is likely to be referred to as a tukang (manual laborer/handyperson).

Elaborate

Judging by the ornateness of the design, beading, and embroidery of the collections of both Andrean and Perris, the lack of public appreciation of local craftspeople is indeed unjust.

Andrean's show opened with the evening-wear collection and a gold lace kebaya worn above a copper prada gown. A purple taffeta ballgown with crushed-silk flowers trimming the torso and matching crown was reminiscent of the images of Mexican artist Frida Kahlo. A vibrant maroon dress with ruffled sleeves was similarly regal, although in a hot-blooded Scarlett-O'Hara style.

Andrean's specialty, however, is bridal gowns. Bridal gowns are an oddity in the fashion world. Because the market prefers conventional designs, rarely do wedding gowns veer from the tried-and-true silhouette of trim torso and crinolined hem. Andrean respects this fact and concentrates on beading, embroidery, and fabric contrasts. One gown in the show, for example, was graced by a luminous synthetic gold skirt. Another had an ivory silk-flower fringe on the bodice and skirt, worn with matching flowers in the hair. The show's finale, an elaborate satin-and-diamante gown with a 15-meter train, was the height of ostentatiousness.

Whereas Andrean reveled in womanly shapes, Perris offered masculine tailoring.

"My inspirations are Twiggy, Marlene Dietrich -- for her sophistication and exaggeration, and George Sand, one of the first French feminists," said Perris.

Perris believes that confidence rather than frills bestows femininity. Marlene Dietrich embodies this brand of allure. Of Dietrich, Perris commented that "the strict forms (of the tuxedo) enhanced her femininity."

When the first model appeared in a gray cape and matching suit and military hat, the evening mood took on an intimidating feel. Amelia Aerhart in war-torn Germany would be an apt analogy. Another model appeared in a similar costume, but in crisp white. It was when they took off their capes that Perris' brilliant mind was revealed. Upon closer inspection, the long jacket was actually a bolero, and the flared trousers trimmed with a matching miniskirt -- hence the illusion of linearity.

Subtle trickery seems to be a Perris signature. Another uniform ensemble was swathed in charcoal pin-stripes. From a distance it looked like a hip-length double-breasted peacoat. Actually it was another single-breasted bolero jacket worn over a longer-length double-breasted waistcoat. The precise tailoring made the outfit seem like one cohesive piece.

Subversion in pattern-cutting symbolizes the subversion in imagery. Women in high-collared blouses, shirt-ties, and bellbottoms as seductresses? The average breadwinning male may disagree, but probably because all that poise and self-esteem would eclipse his own social standing.

If Perris' voluptuous pantsuits are sufficiently intimidating to the average male, then his eveningwear may induce heart failure. Feathers predominate in this collection as both fabric and accessory, and were accomplices to several provocative pieces. A model nonchalantly sauntered across the stage in a feather sweater that was barely there, atop a sheer chiffon skirt that left little to the imagination. Another sashayed in a shimmering wisp of a feather dress -- its plunging decolletage alone enough to make exhibitionists shudder.

But exhibitionism was not the sole objective of the show. Rather, Perris wants to demonstrate the sculptural element of fashion design, as well as elevating the appreciation of women. Women are sometimes derogatorily referred to as "chicks" or "birds". With his feather ensembles, some paired with cocksure silver hotpants and corsets, Perris subverts the metaphor into a symbol of beauty. His designs, and the women who wear them, become "light as a feather".

For those who think feathers are too whimsical for the active woman, Perris offered gorgeous embroidery in accommodating silhouettes, from sedate tunics to seductive brassieres. Black patent leather also made a prominent appearance in the elaborate full-length gowns. These black-and-white ensembles paid homage to the 18th century French writer George Sand, a revolutionary woman who wrote under a male pseudonym and dressed in men's clothes.

In Perris' imagination, his heroine strides in thigh-high patent boots underneath her ballgown, and foregoes a heaving bosom for monastic high collars. In real life, Sand's true love was the effeminate pianist Chopin, whose lack of macho posturing allowed him to discover the passionate woman under Sand's severe masculine camouflage. Passionate women also lurk beneath Perris' garb, but it takes an unshackled mind to warm itself in the flame.