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P>Eco-friendly is the new buzzword in fashion now that consumers are starting to care about what they wear.

The Eco Chic Fashion Show, held at a South Jakarta hotel on Monday, is the first in a series of planned events that are aimed at raising environmental awareness throughout Asia.

The show, which featured 15 local designers and eight Hong Kong-based designers, was staged by Hong Kong-based environmental charity Green2greener.

Although eco-fashion is a relatively new concept here -- compared to, say, the BYOB (bring your own bag) movement -- some of the country's best designers have already begun to use organic materials in their designs.

Household names like Carmanita, Anne Avantie, Lenny Agustine, Musa Widyatmojo, Tuty Cholid and Taruna Kusmayadi of Jakarta, were accompanied by Ali Charisma, Monika Weber, Muji Ananta and Oka Diputra of Bali; Afif Syakur, Lia Mustafa and Nita Azhar of Yogyakarta; Anne Avantie of Semarang and Selfie Bong of Lampung.

The designers representing Hong Kong included Kanchan Panjabi and Indonesian designer Ika Mardiana, who also acted as Eco Chic's art director.

Contacted by Green2greener just six weeks before the event, Ika raced against time to find designers.

"We chose the designers with the most playful designs," she said.

Most of the designers had a history of using environmentally friendly materials, such as plant-derived textiles and leftover scrap and vintage materials.

Within a month, the designers had produced garments for the show.

Waste fabric, vintage batik, used microchips, beer cans, pandanus leaves, corn husks and shoelaces were among the materials utilized by the Eco Chic designers.

Tuty Cholid and Nita Azhar were clearly inspired by nature. A dress by Tuti, for example, explores the transformation from caterpillar to butterfly -- pinned to the model's back was a pair of light brown scalloped wings.

A dress by Nita was made from colorful vintage batik crafted into flowers, with a necklace of silver twigs completing the look

Ika's breathtaking design, themed "Traditional Batik Revival", consisted of a long body-hugging dress with a stand-up collar. The sleeves were full -- from shoulder to wrist -- and puffed at the elbow.

Ika sewed together patches of hand-printed batik from rural districts of Indonesia to make the dress. She used natural dyes and the textile production did not involve the use of machinery.

Musa Widyatmodjo's V-neck pleated dress was made from pandanus leaves with lace applique at the waist and the hemline.

Carmanita's design featured a ruffled cape over a singlet and Ali Baba pants. She used materials that were salvaged from the floods in Jakarta early this year.

Ika said Eco Chic was only the beginning of the eco-fashion revolution in Indonesia."Designers will remember this event. Eco-friendly ideas will be at the heart of their future collections."

All of the designers in the show said they were still learning to be more responsible toward the environment.