These glamorous women were not shopaholics queuing for a midnight sale at the posh mall or supermodels waiting their turn on the catwalk.

Rather, these stylish beauties were fashion devotees, who turned out to see the fashion shows in the city's most highly anticipated annual fashion event, Jakarta Fashion Week (JFW), which ran this year from Nov. 14 to 20.

The annual event featured designers from the Indonesian Fashion Designers' Association (APPMI) and the Indonesian Fashion Designers Council (IPMI), as well as independent designers.

It seemed as though no fashionista in town was going to miss the latest trends showcased by more than 90 local designers from across the country.

The designers certainly knew how to "please" the fashion lovers, sending out models in attractive and creative collections.

Modern cuts flavored with touches of traditional Indonesian fabrics, such as hand-painted batik, ikat weaves and songket cloths, ruled the runways.

Some designers used the traditional fabrics as accents, while others tried to be different by using them for the whole outfit.

Poppy Dharsono's "Recapturing Banyumas" received loud applause from guests, as she used the olden batik style of Central Java's Banyumas in a stylish and modern cut.

"I got the inspiration from my house maid, who is originally from Banyumas and often wears traditional cloths," Poppy said. "I'm fascinated by the beauty of the textiles."

Banyumas batik has a yellowish base with a touch of red. It differs from other batik patterns in that the cloth is painted on both sides.

In the collection were, for example, red batik jodhpurs, with red vest and bubble-sleeved white blouse; another outfit was purple pants teams with a pink bustier and purple batik bolero.

Anne Avantie chose to stick to her specialty in designing kebaya, combining batik patterns from such regions as Semarang, Solo, Yogyakarta, Lasem and Pekalongan, to create beautiful pieces.

She showed a lot of long flowing kebaya with various styles of sleeves, including short, bell-shaped and kimono-style sleeves.

Lenny Agustin also received a warm welcome when she brought in the energetic and dynamic feel of youth onto the runway through her collection "Playful Life".

The mood brightened as models sporting colorful mini skirts, hot pants and tops took to the catwalk.

For women, a blue jumputan (tie-dyed) cloth with yellow crochet was matched with denim hotpants; a dark green batik sleeveless dress with a bubble skirt and white lace was combined with brown scarf.

Pairs of sneakers in shocking-bright colors, from green and yellow to red and orange, really strengthened the dynamic look.

The menswear included attractive batik shirts teamed with denim shorts and jackets.

Guests of JFW got a pleasant surprise on day three when musician Vicky Sianipar performed on stage. He showed off his skills with guitar and percussion, while the models strutted the catwalk in Dina Midiani's loose dresses adorned with ethnic details.

Ian Adrian sent Central Sulawesi's Donggala woven textiles onto the stage in his collection, "Bomba Toveaku".

The runway suddenly became as a piece of the blue sky, as it filled with models sporting blue mini dresses with touches of woven fabrics.

A purple woven bubble skirt looked cute with a pleated blue one-shoulder top, and a blue dress with some traditional motives and a matching bolero gave a more sophisticated look.

Ghea tried to revive the glory of Javanese cinde, a red-based cloth made from silk with certain motifs usually worn by noble families in Solo and Yogyakarta palaces.

She combined the attractive cloth with other fabrics such as velvet, chiffon, satin and crepe to create a 1980s look.

A black velvet jacket with batik skirt and a cinde scarf really captured the essence of the style of Javanese royalty. Another item was a black velvet mini dress with batik stockings.

For fashion lovers who prefer to totally modern and Western style, there were also many outfits to choose from.

Ali Kharisma played with the unusual textures of fungus by creating a series of dresses dominated by violet, dark blue and black. One item was a bolero with the fungus texture, matched with a tube dress and black stockings.

The annual fashion event also featured designs from designers specializing in Islamic wear.

Iva Latifah put the beauty of Indonesian flowers onto colorful organdy dresses through "Flowering".

A large, hand-painted flower on an asymmetric red blouse was paired with a long green dress; in other creations, she put a bouquet of roses on the waistline.

In some ways, some of the outfits resembled hanbok, Korean traditional clothes.

Young talented designer Dian Pelangi caught many people's attention with her display of sweetness in "Turkish Delight".

Her collection mixed the exoticism of Indonesian, Turkish and Moroccan cultures. She did a lot of layering and included a lot of colors in her designs. Purple jumputan pants were matched with a blouse and coat, while colorful fitted jumputan pants were paired with a kaftan and coat.

This year, JFW proved an effective event for promoting Indonesian traditional textiles, as well as to continue toward achieving its ultimate goal: turning Jakarta into a major fashion hub, both within the region and internationally.

The models and the designers might have left the runway and the stage lights might have gone out, but the fashion event will have impressed many fashion lovers in the city, giving them inspiration, ideas and guidance on how to be truly fashionable, Jakarta-style.

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