What they think about Indonesian fashion

What they think about Indonesian fashion

JAKARTA (JP): During Jakarta's first Fashion Week, unfamiliar
faces sat front-row center at the shows. Many were fashion
journalists from overseas newspapers and magazines, including
Vogue Singapore, Italy's Collezioni, Elle South Africa, and
Germany's Badische Beitung. Some were first-time visitors, others
had come back to Indonesia to follow up on developments in
Indonesia's fashion industry.

What were their opinions of Indonesian fashion? Do they feel
Indonesia can compete in the domestic, regional and international
arenas? What are the problems facing the industry, and what can
be done to overcome them?

Dion Chang, Elle South Africa: "It's great to have a Fashion
Week, but it's bizarre to have the split between the two designer
associations, and this is a problem.

Also, after talking to some designers and observers, it seems
that there isn't yet an Indonesian style. They say the clothes
are either copies of European collections or too ethnic for the
local market.

Another problem is that the parties involved are looking at it
from an economic and not a creative perspective. They know that
they can use the raw materials, as in the batik traditions, and
the synthetic fabrics which the local textile industry produces.
They are looking at the fashion industry as a source of jobs, not
as a channel for creativity.

However, I agree that it is good to have these shows in order
to get the youth interested in fashion, to open opportunities for
them. It's also encouraging that some designers are blending the
modern and the ethnic in their collections. Designers should take
global trends and adapt them to local traditions."

Sandra Djajadisastra, Badische Beitung, Germany: "My overall
impression is that the shows were half-professional, and half
like the designers were just having fun with the clothes. Some of
the collections seemed hastily put together, as if they decided
too late to join the show.

The best collections were those with beautiful traditional
textiles, like Ghea Panggabean, Poppy Dharsono, and Biyan, but in
a European style. But some collections were very American. It's
not something I would buy, although I'm sure other people like
it."

Simimona Melegari, Collezioni, Italy:

"It's difficult to make one impression because I have seen so
many designers this week!

Overall, however, the clothes were great, because Indonesia
has such a wonderful tradition of beautiful textiles. But because
I am European and there is a distance in taste, I prefer the
designers with clean lines but beautiful fabrics. I saw in some
collections an interesting mixture of trendy and traditional.

But there is also still so much to do. The designers need to
do more research. The materials are good resources but they need
to work on them in terms of style and finishing. You can see in
some collections that, when the designer is not using traditional
fabrics, the clothes do not look like good quality."

--Dini S. Djalal