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span class="inline inline-left">Didi Budiardjo: (JP/Ricky Yudhistira)Fashion designers Didi Budiardjo and Denny Wirawan are dropping the monochrome from classic wedding dresses to let brides shine.
Inspired by the dreamy sound of 'Reverie', composed by Debussy, Didi welcomed everyone into his imagination, as articulated in 19 looks featuring classic wedding gowns with modern accents.
Didi astonished the audience by incorporating a large carousel decoration into his catwalk, presenting models clad in beautiful gowns suggesting a faraway land.
'I'd like to welcome you all into my reverie land,' said Didi, who has been in the fashion industry for 22 years, during a press conference at Grand Hyatt Jakarta Wedding Fair 2013 in Jakarta recently.
Applying a couture style to his work, Didi played with romantic silhouettes, beautiful waves, linked and layered draperies with organza silk, tulle, chiffon, shantung and lace. He made a bold move by also applying red ruby and floral motifs beside the classic white, opal white, beige, champagne and alabaster lily onto the gowns.
'I'm offering more of a color palette, like red, because before the era of Queen Victoria, red wedding gowns were favorites,' said the 42-year-old native of Malang, East Java. 'In fact, before 19th century, the preferred color for wedding gowns was black.'
Indeed, after a list of simple and epic gowns in opal white and alabaster lily, Didi introduced his red ruby gowns, from an effortless one-shouldered A-line gown and a sophisticated layered backless gown to a West-meets-East cheongsam-inspired gown and a princess-like backless ball gown with an outstanding necklace.
Like a Greek goddess, a model walked in confidence within a simple long white dress with a tasseled tail. Later, another model featured an embroidered white gown, with layers on the lower part, bringing about both simplicity and complexity at the same time.
Before reaching the end, Didi surprised the audience as he showcased a solemn white gown with a veil. The front part of the bodice featured a classic Madonna-and-child image on the dress.
Denny Wirawan: (JP/Jerry Adiguna)To close the runway show, Didi presented a silk-made backless gown with large floral motif that also had a Madonna-and-child image ' a personal way to expose his spiritual side.
If Didi has done bridal shows before, Denny Wirawan was making his debut ' and did so wonderfully.
Although Denny has done wedding gowns for a host of clients, he picked 2013 to debut his bridal collection 'Un Amore: Denny Wirawan Bride 2013'. Denny showcased 35 looks that comprised 20 party dresses, 10 wedding gowns and five formal suits for men.
'It's certainly not my first time producing wedding gowns. After some years of doing this without the media knowing much about it, I think this year is a perfect time to launch a bridal line,' said Denny.
He used his signature soft embroidery on materials such as lace and French lace to connect all the items in his collection.
Denny played it safe by picking classic colors like khaki, off white and gold for his wedding dresses. His spark appeared in his party dresses and men's suits, where he played with more colors.
Without too much talking, Denny wowed the audience with his simple knee-length red lace dress with glamorous flowery embellishment on top, which looked so 1950s, plus a flattering hat.
Graceful and glamorous are the best terms to sum up Denny's cocktail dress collection.
From a red-gold cheongsam dress and golden embroidery calf-length dress to a layered orange dress with a ticklish detail on the waist to a sweet yellow backless long dress, Denny offers sweet details on his works.
As a refresher, two male models showed up, wearing colorful suits, such as a pinkish jacket with turquoise pants and matching bow tie and white jacket and yellow shirt with purple pants.
Another male model was a classic match with brown jacket, shirt and bow tie plus black pants with white stripes.
To start the wedding gown collection, a pair of models walked down the runway as if they were coming down the aisle.
The woman wore a typical long white embroidered gown with a simple veil, holding a bouquet of flowers. Meanwhile, the man was in a tidy black suit.
The usual look ended there as Denny presented more characterized looks with various influences ' European, Indonesian (as in traditional kebaya), Chinese to futurism, which was certainly the fashion artist's ultimate signature piece.
'Making a wedding gown isn't about my desires. It is supposed to be about the bride, so I can't put too much of my idealism into the designs,' said Denny, who received his latest award at 2011's ASEAN Silk Competition in Bangkok.