Urban Crew Mixing and matching but staying in style

Muara Bagdja, Contributor, Jakarta

In a paisley blouse with the current must-wear knee-length pants and a beret perched confidently on her head, singer Titi DJ took her front-row seat for the launch of the latest collection by design duo Urban Crew.

Across from her was emcee and former MTV veejay Alex Abad, in a similarly eclectic outfit of a Panama hat and funky jacket.

These two celebrities can be counted on to blend different styles from their wardrobes but always with a distinctive, stylish result. They know that dressing well is not about labels or how trendy clothes are, but the care taken in putting them all together.

The same was true for the designs on the catwalk. Held at Embassy, the most-hyped club in the city, it was on the theme of an "exotic night party" and featured men's and women's designs.

Employing the formula of a harmonious blending of clothing, Urban Crew's Era M. Sokamto and Ichwan H. Toha featured basic articles of clothing that are so familiar to us -- sleeveless tops, shirts, jackets, simple gowns and patched jeans -- in attractive combinations.

The designers called their show Rejuvenescence, a combination, according to their press release, of the words rejuvenation and essence. It's a difficult word to pronounce for most Indonesians, and it was similarly tough to work out quite how it related to the designs on stage.

But the predominantly young audience did not give much thought to the theme. They did not care that the show began an hour late, or that the 2003 collection was making its debut midway through the year. What mattered most to them was to dress smartly, come to the club and enjoy the party!

"We are in a relaxed mood, just like people going to a party or relaxing in a spa," Ichwan said behind the catwalk.

The air of relaxation was present in their designs, which were influenced by dress styles from the Middle East, such as Turkey and Morocco, and the Orient, especially Indonesia and India.

There is nothing new in this "go East, young designer" philosophy: Many designers have interpreted a "return to peace of mind" by taking as their reference all things Oriental, with the lasting associations of religion and spiritualism. The hippy movement of the late 1960s and 1970s, where wealthy but disenchanted westerners sought some spiritual solace in India and other Asian countries, contributed to Asian-influenced clothes by designers such as Yves Saint Laurent.

In Urban Crew's styling, the "exoticism" of their own backyard was cooked up in a multicultural blend with Western styles.

A male model went down the runway in a tie-dye sleeveless undershirt and multipocketed cargo trousers, his hair styled up in a stiff semi-Mohawk.

The kaffiyeh, the headscarf made fashionable by Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, was tied as a tunic blouse. A Moroccan- style cloak was worn by a male model with his hair in dreadlocks.

It must be acknowledged that the blending of styles was supported by the makeup and hair-styling talents of make-up artist Qiqi Franky. The tanned, dewy faces of models contributed to the exotic look, as did his novel selection of the mohawk and dreadlock hairstyles.

Overall, there was a youthful, free, almost hippy-like feeling to the collection, and the designers said they were inspired by the rebellion of the Woodstock communal gathering in New York state in the 1970s.

There was a surprise in this collection. Urban Crew up to now has been noted for its sporty, contemporary and decidedly non- ethnic designs, but there were also faded, or "shabby", batiks on show.

Faded batik was a popular style in the 1980s, a period of coming of age for the Indonesian fashion world when the search for self-identity was made through a great reliance on local products. It was part of the "shabby chic" trend that took hold in the United States and Europe, when it was a case of the shabbier the better for the wealthy.

Today, in a local fashion world awash in a current of trends and the popularity of elegant and glamorous gowns, the use of such batiks is in itself a courageous, rebellious step. That is especially true because Urban Crew's clothes are oriented to the young, notoriously resistant to wearing a fabric that is more often associated with their parents.

"Why shouldn't we use local products. What counts is that they are shown in a cosmopolitan manner," Ichwan said.

For him, cosmopolitanism in dress style means that the batik design is closely contoured to the body for a more youthful, sexy appearance. Take, for example, the tight batik blouse combined with a gown and a denim jacket. There was also a loose-sleeved faded batik dress accented with plain fabric and embroidery that resembled the obi, the uniquely Japanese broad sash.

"I like the idea of batik and its embroidered details," said Titi DJ, although she said batik did not suit her look.

Instead, she preferred a bright orange baby-doll gown with an embroidered fringe below the bustline.

It's not easy giving a modern, cosmopolitan look to a traditional mainstay, and the designers seemed caught in the cosmopolitan-but-exotic paradox.

They showed faded batik in a kurta-style dress, inspired by the traditional tunic of an Indian male, with pants made from a sarong. For women, there was the leisurewear of a baby-doll blouse, but accessorized with a nose ring and mihindi henna hand decorations.

Again, the young often crave paradoxes, perhaps as part of the need to buck conventions. A bit of adaptation and styling, however, could help smoothen out the rough edges.

The two designers are graduates of Singapore's Lasalle fashion school, but Era graduated earlier than her design partner, who had worked in a textile company.

He also had a stint at leading teen magazine Hai, which gave him the opportunity to organize the styling for photo shoots and in the process work out his own creative devices.

Era took part in the Indonesian Young Designers Contest and won first prize. Then the two of them joined forces in Urban Crew, funding it out of their own pocket but, using creativity and courage, approaching Dupont Lycra to sponsor their first fashion show.

Since then Urban Crew has gained recognition in the fashion community and in the entertainment world. As well as celebrities donning their clothes, several music groups have chosen their designs for their music videos.

Today, their label is perhaps the only one in the country that is focused exclusively on ready-to-wear for youngsters.

For the last three years, the designers have demonstrated their ability in dress styling, the pattern of which has become very familiar to fashion observers. The formula is basically to look stylish, and wind a broad sash round the waist above a combination of hipster pants and a tight blouse or gown.

The creativity is still there, but they seem to have overlooked that the sash look is now out of fashion, simply because it is found everywhere.

"Ive got too many broad sashes and jeans in my wardrobe already," sighed one young woman as she kicked back with a drink at the after-show party.