Decoding fashion

Many young readers of magazines and online media as well as shoppers in Indonesia still have little information about fashion terms.

The problem is, there is little literature that specifically discusses fashion terms. A to Z Istilah Fashion, which was penned by designer Goet Poespo, does this, as does Wishnu Goentoro Poespo.

A newly launched book, which is titled Kamus Mode Indonesia (Indonesian Dictionary of Fashion) tries to answer the need for a guidebook on fashion. Three avid writers on fashion cooperated to write
the book.

They are former deputy chief editor of Femina magazine Irma Hardisurya, senior journalist from national newspaper Kompas Ninuk Pambudy and textile writer Herman Jusuf.

 Irma said making a dictionary on fashion had become her dream. She recounted the time when she found it difficult to decipher fashion terms when reading glossy magazine in her teenage years.

“There were many terms that were not even in the dictionary,” she said.

She admitted that it was hard to be satisfied with the book as she kept trying to improve it during the editing process. Meanwhile, Herman, or “Boy” as he is called among his friends, said the effort to explain fashion terms in simple Indonesian took a lot of energy.

Like a dictionary, the content of the book is arranged alphabetically. The book tries to incorporate many elements that are related to fashion, such as designs, kinds of batik, colors, shoes, underwear, textiles and jewelry. Interestingly, many terms in the book are elaborated with synonyms in English and the origin of words.

The book offers richer content than Goet’s fashion glossaries. However, there are several words that are too common to be included, such as “costume”, “collection” and “pearl”. One important note for the book is the limited and colorless illustrations that can actually give better visual descriptions of terms and names in fashion.

The back part of the book also provides a directory of Indonesian designers, featuring valuable information that documents their styles and experiences. It also lists some fashion events, fashion organizations and fashion institutions in the country.

Senior designer Hari Darsono praised the effort to make the Indonesian dictionary of fashion, saying that he was grateful to see one at last. He viewed the book as too thin to be called a dictionary. Nevertheless, we welcome the thin dictionary and hope to see more illustrations and colors in the next edition.

Kamus Mode Indonesia

Irma Hadisurya, Ninuk Mardiana Pambudy, Herman Jusuf
PT Gramedia Pustaka Utama
300 pages