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Young local designer experiments with burlap in latest collection
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The founder and creative director of the House of PH, a label established in 2013, Pratiwi Harsetiani, is among the designers participating in Senayan City Fashion Nation 2017. (House of PH/File)
F
or 23-year-old designer Pratiwi Harsetiani, creating a collection with burlap, a fabric more often found in sacks than in clothes, is risky, but she believes that by using the correct method the fabric could offer a "breath of fresh air" to the fashion industry.
The founder and creative director of the House of PH, a label established in 2013, was among the designers participating in Senayan City Fashion Nation 2017, an annual event held from April 6 to 16 at the Senayan City shopping mall in South Jakarta that highlighted works by local designers.
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During the event, Pratiwi presented her newest collection dubbed "Tropical Immersion", which she considered her "most honest so far". "I follow my sense of intuition in order to achieve what I want to express," she said.
Said to be a collection that "embodies a depraved concept of the life in the jungle", it included eight earth-colored ready-to-wear pieces with draping accents. The clothes were created by mixing heavy and light elements, utilizing heavy burlap, medium-weight pleats and lightweight textured tulle, all hand-sewn on mannequins by Pratiwi herself.
The collection was created within one and a half months and mostly without any patterns, she added.
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Pratiwi explained that she chose to use burlap because the fabric's earth-friendly character and texture represent the image of the jungle that she wanted to highlight. "When consumers feel that these clothes are 'out of date' or damaged, they can recycle them for other purposes, such as [turning them into] industrial wiping cloths," she told The Jakarta Post.
The original collection presented in Fashion Nation is currently not for sale, but fashionistas can order the clothes with reference to the designs in the collection. Pratiwi said that as the clothes would be hand-sewn, there would be no similar design and that there would be different drapes in each production. “But it will still be in the same silhouette outline."
She added that as each order would be custom-based, customers might ask to have their clothes created using the original materials or with other materials according to their preference.
The price of clothes in the collection starts from Rp 1.4 million (US$105). (kes)
