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The journey of East Nusa Tenggara's 'tenun' to modern elegance
(Adjie Notonegoro)Celebrated Indonesian designer Adjie Notonegoro invigorates tenun (woven fabrics) of East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) with a touch of modern elegance in his latest collection
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(Adjie Notonegoro)
Celebrated Indonesian designer Adjie Notonegoro invigorates tenun (woven fabrics) of East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) with a touch of modern elegance in his latest collection.
Tenun can sometimes be intimidating. With its splashes of striking color and vibrant motifs, it can be tricky to create a work outfit or evening gown that does not look, let's say, ostentatious.
But Adjie seems to perfectly understand the intricate beauty of tenun and translates it into lively yet elegant dresses in his collection, Le Journey de NTT.
The collection was unveiled at the opening ceremony of Flash Modeling by Adjie Notonegoro at Lotte Shopping Avenue in Kuningan, South Jakarta, recently.
'I envision Indonesians wearing tenun à la parisiens,' he said about the inspiration behind the collection.
Feminine looks were well represented in the collection by a long red tenun dress with a purple and orange checkered pattern. Adjie gave it a rustic feel by adding fringe details on the edges.
Another model sported a silky pine-green top with large white floral embroidery paired with a green and gold tenun skirt.
The dresses and multiple long pearl necklaces adorning the models signified the conservative beauty of the collection. Some dresses, however, reflected active women and a dash of masculinity.
Adjie took inspiration from a magician's suit in creating a tenun tailcoat with a geometric pattern, which was paired with silky purple fitted pants.
In some pieces, Adjie used tenun to embellish basic fashion items, such as adding a vibrant floral tenun coat to a little black dress, or accompanying a simple black and yellow tenun top with a black skirt featuring a thigh-high split.
At the event, Adjie lent the runaway to three fellow designers to present their crossover collections of traditional fabrics and modern cuts.
Designer Ivan Gunawan brought his ready-to-wear collection, Jajaka ' a Sundanese word for young men ' which is marketed on his online store.
Ivan beautifully collided batik and tenun patterns into baseball coats and shirts. He played with a wide array of colors ' from a jacket with subtle blue and green tenun patterns to a short-sleeved shirt displaying four batik patterns in shades of light yellow, cameo pink and pine green.
For Pasar Malam Batik Kudus (Batik Kudus Night Market), Denny Wirawan presented sleeveless kimonos and collarless biker jackets in shades of black and grey, which were decorated with delicate floral batik patterns.
Dimas Mahendra played with Yogyakarta's sogan batik and songket (traditional woven fabric) in his Indonesian Archipelago collection. Although playing it safe with a simple color palate of black, brown, purple and gold, Dimas presented a contrast by pairing a neat batik shirt with crinkle black pants and an asymmetrical skirt, and also a lavish golden-purple songket sarong with a poncho-inspired shirt.
Adjie said that he, along with professional models, would teach the Flash Modeling courses.
'This is open for all ages. I noted that not all those joining the training want to be a model, but they want to have a more feminine personality and learn good manners [about how to carry themselves].'
Opening a modeling class in the city is also Adjie's way to criticize the country's fashion industry for seeming overly interested in foreign models.
'This [modeling class] is aimed at outshining foreign models, who are adored in Indonesia. I am delighted to see Indonesian models triumph in their own country.'
Ideally, Adjie said, a designer should allot 98 percent of the spots on the runway to local models and the remainder to foreign models.
'If you want to be seen as a top world fashion designer, you have to create international-class designs, not simply because your pieces are worn by overseas models,' he quipped.
Flash Modeling by Adjie Notonegoro will also provide free classes for underprivileged children under a cooperation with the National Education Window and the Great Indonesia Creation House, known together as JPN-RKIH.
JPN-RKIH chairwoman Julia Noor said that they would also open art and craft classes at the mall as part of the foundation's women's and youth empowerment program.
'Aside from running the classes commercially, we use corporate social responsibility funds from companies to provide classes for talented individuals coming from disadvantaged families,' she said.
' Photo by Jerry Adiguna
