JP/Triwik Kurniasari

For some, Auguste may seem a quiet person but when asked about his latest collection, he springs to life.

Just an hour earlier, fashion enthusiasts had their chance to take a closer look at Auguste’s debut ready-to-wear collection, Kromo, during the 2012 Indonesia Fashion Week.

Kromo offers a versatile range of everyday wear in classic silhouettes and neutral tones using linen, cotton and viscose rayon while maintaining the spirit of his couture line, Kraton.

The ready-to-wear collection is fuss-free, modern, sleek, practical and intended for active women, day and night. The collection includes shirts, draped blouses, jackets, coats, pencil skirts, evening dresses, loose pants, and knee-length shorts.

“I have always been attracted to an intellectual woman, one with profound insights and a sharp wit. For my part, those factors reflect the seductive quality of a woman,” Auguste said.

Born in Jakarta on Aug. 10, 1981, he said that fashion was his passion since a very young age.

“I like clothing. I like what clothing represents. When you are much younger, you don’t think it as an industry,” he said.

“I was never attracted by the glamour of fashion. I know people who want to be in fashion because they like the glamour and the parties.”

Auguste does not care about all that glitters.

“What I’m interested in is how a woman can carry an outfit confidently and the relationship between the body and the clothes. That’s what I really enjoy.”

Despite Auguste’s interests, when time came for college, his father recommended that he study architecture at the University of Sydney in Australia.

“He was never against the idea of fashion, but he once said, ‘Why don’t you study something that is not too vocational, something more academic. If you decide you don’t like fashion as a career, you always have something else’,” Auguste said.

He followed his father’s advice, considering that he was also fond of architecture, design and the arts.

Auguste eventually obtained a degree in film and digital arts from the Austra-lian National University before finally studying at the renowned Ecole de la Chambre Syndicale de la Couture in Paris, following in the footsteps of great designers such as Yves Saint Laurent and Valentino.

Why study high fashion? “I believe that in any art form, you should always study the classics. The highest form of classic fashion is haute couture,” he says.

“It is the original form of fashion with a high level of technique and [Coutre] is the only school in the world that offers the major properly. All its graduates were world famous.”

During his time in Paris, he did an internship at the house of Ralph Pucci, the first American to be invited by the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture to show in Paris.

Auguste was excited remembering his internship, even though he only worked there for three months.

“I was lucky to be able to work at Ralph Pucci. It is the only American couture house that still exists today. The French taught me technique and the Americans taught me how to do it.”

He later worked as a freelance patternmaker for some leading high-end designers in New York before launching his own couture line, Kraton, which literally means “palace”, in 2008.

“It has nothing to do with Javanese culture. We can find palaces all over Indonesia. [Kraton] needed to be an Indonesian.”

“Kraton is part of a diplomatic effort to promote Indonesia overseas,” he added.

Through word of mouth, he got clients and the collection received warm welcome.

“Setting up a label is not difficult, but surviving is. Creating something is not difficult. You have to sustain the business,” Auguste says.

“In the beginning it was okay. The hardest part was how to get good PR. In the US, good PR is very expensive.”

Kraton uses high-end luxury fabrics crafted to perfection, incorporating superb tailoring and unique designs.

Designed for the mature women, Kromo features a minimalist look and structured silhouettes, without revealing too much skin.

“I am not about really curvy clothes. [Kromo] is more about structure. It can be fitted, but I think you have to dress a woman in a very intellectual way, not in a revealing or pornographic, cheap way,” Auguste said.

“I don’t like objectification because I am a feminist. Woman should have a voice that represents them.”

Behind the works of an artist, there is usually a muse in the shadows serving as an inspiration.

“A muse is that type of woman that you could create clothing for. You could imagine what she would wear and what would I make for her,” he said.

Singer Paquita Widjaja inspires him, as does Sranya Bamrungphong Natalegawa, the wife of Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa.

A muse, he added, is also important for feedback. His muses often give him comments on his designs.

“I don’t wear skirts, so I don’t know how it feels. If you get feedback, you can make a collection better,” Auguste said.

When he started his business in the US, he had to face the death of his father, Hadi Soesastro, one of Indonesia’s foremost economists and the former executive director of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), in May 2010.

Having spent many years abroad, Auguste decided to go return to Indonesia for the sake of his mother and continue his business in the capital.

“The US market is dormant at the moment. I mostly stay [in Indonesia]. The couture business is hard, so you have to have your business here. You can be more mobile with ready-to-wear,” he said.

After delving into couture work, he decided to embrace ready-to-wear collection. He found a different excitement in creating Kraton and Kromo.

“I like them both. They are completely different way of thinking. But if you study…ready-to-wear, how can you create couture? Couture is the engineering,” he said.

“The couture (line) is very personal to me and ready-to-wear is something new. I designed it, made it, sold it and was done. For couture, even if I have already sold it, I still call the client to ask her about the clothes. There is a dialogue.”

Here in Indonesia, he certainly faces different challenges, saying that people tend to show off.

“I stick with my style and hopefully by doing so I can educate women not to dress like a Christmas tree,” he said.

He believes you have to be comfortable in what you wear.

“You cannot feel comfortable in a dress if you cannot go to the toilet. I can’t imagine make something like that. I know some designers that make dresses that will not allow you to go to the toilet.”

Auguste is also concerned about environmental issues and incorporates green messages into his collection.

From the start, he has used natural, sustainable and environmentally friendly fabrics as well as recycled materials.

He collaborates with producers who follow fair-trade principles and use legally obtained raw materials. Ecological responsibility and cruelty-free practices are also a must.

Auguste revealed that he has a dream of doing lots of environmental work, something to protect forests in Indonesia or around the world.

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