F

ashion tends to come pretty low on the List of the Important World Issues. There's never even been a minister for fashion, in any country.

As that blonde and bombastic Victoria Secret's angel Heidi Klum put it for her TV show Project Runway, "In fashion, one day you're in, and one day you're out."

With all this uncertainty, or shall I say superficiality, that is a part of fashion, why do we still bother caring about it?

But who doesn't need clothes? Who doesn't want to have that "bling" factor? Whether viewed as a prime necessity or just something complementary to the unnecessary style fringe, clothes are indispensable in manipulating our appearance either to achieve that glamorous sensation of being in some walk of fame, or simply for the sake of covering our unflattering body from a walk of shame.

With a large population and increasing fashion awareness in Indonesia - not to mention super-high demand from fashionistas and wannabe divas - there's no question that fashion is constantly brewing to create all that buzz, be it on the business side or the creative side.

Love it or hate it, the world of style can be so comical and we're just fascinated by the beautiful drama from it. Aren't we, cosmopolitans, just so addicted to sweet illusion?

For the past decade, fashion everywhere has gone on a funkilicious rollercoaster ride as it follows developments in the world's trends, cultures, religions, music, films, science, politics, economics and tragedies.

When we entered the new millennium of the 2000s, we fantasized about how the future should look. As clich*d as it sounds, that silvery shine successfully swept away all that 90s edgy-ness and quirkiness, and began the new chapter with a modern and clean outlook. Thanks to Neo and Trinity from The Matrix, I was strutting around in a club in a latex tank top even though it was hot as hell to wear that. Fashion is painful indeed.

About a year later came the lighter version of that hardcore futuristic imagination, which was translated into ready-to-wear mass clothing companies for a sporty, workwear-inspired look.

Many details were taken from the practicality and functionality of uniforms of security forces, construction workers, firefighters, carpenters and fishermen - cargo pants and shorts, army shirts and jackets, hooded vests and fishermen hats, with variations on zippers, buckles, pockets, military epaulet, tabs and many other butch elements were hot-selling items that everyone had to have.

This trend is still lingering today, totally refreshing the notion of men's casual wear to give even more of a twist to regular denim jeans or chinos.

Getting tired with simplicity as its barometer, the world of fashion started spinning again with the return of the 80s around 2003. Most Indonesian fashion designers opened their arms wide to welcome back structured shoulders together with high-waisted trousers, baggy silhouettes, office pumps, big belts, big hair and bold accessories and makeup. It was totally exciting, like putting together a puzzle of pieces made of such "no-no" fashion items from that "glamonstrous" (glamorous and monstrous) era into a whole new picture.

Apparently, the 80s influence was felt not only in clothing, but also in the va-va-voom beauty standards as well. Gisele Bundchen, with her "killer" figure, and the rest of those Brazilian model bombshells gave a new meaning to glamour with their wavy brown hair, healthy glows and brawling boobs and butts; those women managed to sell sexy without being sleazy. Goodbye waif and heroin chic look, welcome the new "glamorama"!

On the road to 2005, the success of fashion-conscious TV series Sex and The City made pretty and beautiful the new black. Soon enough, Hollywood actresses replaced fashion models on the covers of magazines.

Statuesque beauties such as Nicole Kidman and Charlize Theron, or anorexic junkies such as Mary-Kate Olsen and Lindsay Lohan set the trend of the new glamour, and the red carpet became the arena for a "Who Dressed Best?" competition among those starlets.

There was a whole new revolution in our fashion industry as well with the appearance of promising new fashion designers: Sally Koeswanto, Priyo Octaviano and Deden Siswanto, who brought new freedom and glam to Indonesian fashion. With their various "daring" signature styles - eccentric, alternative, feminine, twisty, artsy, eclectic, folkloric - they opened the eyes of our fashionistas, showing them how to appear bolder and more significant.

With booming fashion barometers in standards of beauty, fresh talents in designing, and fashion shows as a form of entertainment, style awareness was raised big time in Indonesia. Those who could afford to appear stylish suddenly got themselves noticed in social events. And the opportunity to become popular was no longer the sole domain of actresses and celebrities. If you were labeled as one of Indonesia's leading socialites, you could also make your way to the stardom.

Fortunately, the media industry gave these socialites big chances to appear in their magazine pages to boost the "existence" - and most importantly confidence - of those elite fashion consumers in supporting the fashion industry here, of course by mentioning whose designs they are wearing!

It's probably only in Indonesia that we can see someone rich man's wife or a social butterfly gracing the cover of a magazine, even though it's no longer a secret that some of those socialites are willing to pay to have their pictures featured on those snapshot pages. Lights, camera, action!

As the social events sizzled, social venues hit new notes. Clubs, cafes, malls, and gyms are competing fiercely to present the most glamorous look and facilities. Crowds are coming to be seen and look fabulous, and in this era of low-grade banter and drunken photo antics shown on Facebook, we can confirm that most people carry a camera and a must-have Blackberry to be sure to get their image snapped while looking "happening" in a posh place. And, they'll upload them with one finger click to achieve that egocentric attention-crazy cosmopolitan fame. Amen!

Since the demand to look good became more widespread, the creative field here opened up to everyone, with or without an artistic background and with or without enough funds, to have a go at entrepreneurship.

Each day more and more fashionistas proclaimed themselves fashion designers - so eager to dip their toes into this industry that seems so glitzy - resulting in many (or even too many?) wannabe designers in our fashion directory. It seems there's never enough room for too many queens!

Some made it to the top, and others just became the fringe of what I call the unnecessary addition to vanity. Many "newborn" designers who care only for popularity ended up being little more than photocopy machines, replicating designs from somewhere else, with the pieces in their collections looking like they were taken from different fashion magazines without no uniformity of concept.

In the other department of wannabes, many of those who dreamed of becoming sinetron megastars or celebrity presenters hung their hopes too high on a start in modeling. What they didn't realize is that to be a model, it's not enough just to have an attractive physique; the job demands intelligence and the ability to take on different characters for photo shoots and to walk the runway.

Of course, not everyone in this new batch of "common people" knows how to work a garment and their level of professionalism runs low.

Now, the trend in our modeling scene is shifting to Caucasian figures from east European countries such as Russia, Uzbekistan, the Czech Republic and Ukraine.

Flaunting their international looks, with their taller and slimmer bodies, sharper cheek and jawbones, more expressive faces with fair skin that can be transformed easily, they can sell and jack up a product's exclusivity and increase consumers' pride in buying it.

Modeling agencies consider them a good investment, as they generate incomes several times that of the local models. With the uneven quality of our local models, there was a high chance the Western models invasion would happen here, just as happened earlier in Singapore and Hong Kong.

Yet while the trend in faces has been getting more international, the clothes have actually been getting more traditional. For the past three years, ever since veteran designer Edward Hutabarat started to modify batik into more casual and wearable clothing than its original kebaya end products, our own heritage textile has been booming massively as "fashion compulsory", from local and international private label designers' collections to export-import commodities, from prestigious shopping malls to ITC, from office buildings to hangout sites. Everyone is just crazy about batik; they hunt it down and actually collect it.

The recent scandal that erupted when our neighbor laid claim to the origins of batik just made batik even more of a phenomenon. And it raised a nationalistic awareness of other traditional fabrics as well, including songket, ulos and ikat. Now looking hip as a local can be measured if you sporting these materials. There's even a batik day now in Indonesia!

The other strongest fashion highlight lately is on the fabric, jersey. I see so much women's wear that hangs freely on the body, creating a shapeless look with surprising and unthinkable drapes here and there. Jersey gives clothes an edgy look and makes them comfortable to wear; it will last for a very long time. Pairing this material in pants, shirts, dresses and even accessories with everything from a sharp blazer to a fierce pair of gladiator heels can create the perfect geometric yet casual today look.

So, what's for 2010? Will we move on from this dominant and dreadful "simple, chic, elegant, glamour and sophisticated" fever we've been swearing by for almost six years now? Fashion keeps changing, and you'll never know what will come up or make a return next despite all those trend predictions and color forecasts blah blah blah, so let's just sit back and relax, and wait for the next big thing to come.

Fashion is free - there's no obligation to follow it if you don't fancy it. Fashion is unpredictable; what you think is hot, Anna Wintour may think is not. Fashion is not about what you wear, but how you wear it.

And whether you're a fashion leader or a fashion victim, you will get equal space in the fashion spotlight. Even though style may seem to have too much of a flare, fashion justice will always treat us fair.