Show debuts new era in local fashion

JAKARTA (JP): The excitement was palpable as the packed room buzzed with the anticipation usually reserved for rock concerts.

In the front row sat some of the industry's biggest names, among them designer Biyan, photographer Jay Subiyakto. If the intention of the Indonesian Fashion Designers Council (IPMI) was to emulate the catwalk commotion of Europe -- by placing celebrities at the front, cramming sweaty bodies into a small space and barring latecomers, making audiences wait -- then it succeeded all too well. In mood and design, IPMI's Trend Show 1998 marked the beginning of a new era in Indonesian fashion.

That's an era of a more modern style and outlook, a higher professionalism and wider ambitions. Indonesian designers not only want to capture the local market, but they want to spearhead Jakarta's launch as Asia's next fashion capital.

Indeed, Arie, current designer of the House of Prajudi, says that IPMI wanted to, "give something new, something better". Not that what took place leaves them content. "Eventually what we want our own shows in a proper fashion week, maybe show only a few designers a day. Yes, just like in Europe."

Some of the collections can match those in Europe. At least, they do in style and sensibility -- Europe's bugle beads and fringes have all washed ashore here -- if not in finishing.

The sleek and synthetic minimalism spearheaded by Austria's Helmut Lang, for example, has long been evident in the collections of Ronald Gaghana. Ronald, of course, is a talent in his own right, as he taps his own imagination to concoct a potent mix of cool and now ethnic. And for 1998, this means pairing forest-hued Dayak curlicues with shiny acetate.

Some say the Dayak prints are too close for comfort -- last year's collection of Ronald's mentor Biyan also had Dayak references. But Ronald is Biyan's quieter but edgier offspring. The smattering of curlicues on a strapless jade dress hints at shyness, but the hip-high slit is a bold statement.

And by showing Masai women wearing coils around their necks, the same coils that Dayaks wore around their ankles and ears, Ronald tries to link the two inspirational cultures. Ronald is being clever, but ultimately the Masai prints are too imposing for casual or even evening wear.

Ghea Panggabean fixed her eye closer to home, and it hit the target. Whereas others sing the "ethnic" tune with cracked voices, Ghea's song gets sweeter with every Oriental turn. This year she wants coy madames to flip their parasols wearing short kebaya and Chinese jackets, all in playful colors like peach and pistachio. Sometimes Ghea delved into bolder territory, cutting jackets in velvets and deep russet hues. These don't work as well because tropical dress rarely need heavy coats.

Keeping it light was the House of Prajudi. Here the wraparound robes were as fine as the palazzo trousers worn underneath slip- dresses. Some jackets were stiff and bulky, but in general the collection, painted with a palette of golds and buttery yellows, was as tasteful as the late designer.

Itang Yunasz also showed a classy collection in a classic hue: gray. Itang showed all gradations of the color from silver to cement, seemingly to play off the silver dragonfly beadwork that ran across the sheer fabrics. And some of the fabrics he draped expertly at a bias, if he did not split them into diagonal panels across the body.

The results? A sophisticated, spellbinding weave through diaphanous possibilities. Some may say this stuff has been seen on all the European catwalks. Granted, but at least Itang shows good taste.

After all, some independent imaginations can be savage. Literally. Dipa's collection practically clobbered the jungle for animal prints. Dipa's collections have consecutively shown a high-strung creativity, and he's not changed much. The fabrics were iridescent gold if not tiger-striped or fuschia brocade, then left all over the catwalk in long trains. It was fantastic in the sense of fantasy, but who could wear the thigh-high patent leather boots but the expert model who carefully teetered in them?

Chossy Latu liked thigh-high boots too, and now sheers, silvers and fringes. Some of this futurist mix worked, like the fitted and sheer kebaya-type jacket extended to the knee, the fringes grazing the slip underneath. But there's a sense that the horizontal silver stitching has been seen somewhere before.

The waterfall of bugle beads offered by Eddy Betty has definitely been seen somewhere before (precisely, Julien MacDonald's Spring 1998 show). But there was ingenuity elsewhere. Beaded embroidery on wide plaid trousers paired with a macrame- knit camisole looked fun, especially when worn by a fresh-faced model dancing flapper-style in a top hat. The mix of feminine and masculine will be a key look next season.

Femininity has always been Sebastian Gunawan's passion, and this season is no different. Lacquer red and boudoir black swirl in a madness of lace and jet beads. And like Ronald, Sebastian mixes his influences. Italy shows in the tassled handbags, the wedge sandals and the lace; China in the Suzy Wong slit skirts, the embroideries and the Empress Dowager headdresses.

IPMI put on a good show, if a tad repetitive. As at the APPMI show, audiences complained that the collections looked too similar. "They all had embroideries, beadwork. It was all the same," quipped one journalist. Perhaps not exactly what the designers wanted to hear. But it should be fodder for them to, as designer Arie put it, "keep trying for something better". (Dini S. Djalal)