Tatjana Saphira for Barli Asmara

Words Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak Photos Donny Fernando

The following designers’ accumulated experience during lengthy careers continues to make them trendsetters. The showcasing of their collections at Jakarta Fashion Week 2017, held from Oct. 23–28 at Senayan City shopping mall, South Jakarta, always drew a full house as the city’s fashion lovers were eager to see their creations and the new trends.

The strong point of these designers is their eloquent translation of tradition and culture for a modern world that inspires many of their juniors and is also copied by neighborhood seamstresses, changing the way women dress for formal occasions and paving the way for traditional attire to appear at galas.

For the next fashion season, the designers displayed ever-stunning cutting techniques and choices of material in their signature style.

ITANG YUNASZ

Celebrating 35 years as a designer, he presented not one but three ready-to-wear collections during the fashion week. Although he has focused lately on modest Muslim wear, the new collections revealed the quirky side of him as an artist.

In the “Cindramata” collection, Itang documented his trips to different regions on his quest to see the beauty of Indonesia. He takes inspiration from handicraft gifts, architectural designs and ornaments unique to the regions.

He depicted the flower ornament usually found on fans from Bali and combined it with stripes in nude and black colors; the colorful woven mat of Kalimantan was the motif of outerwear in pink or emerald green palette. He used floaty materials such as satin, chiffon and twill duchess to create flare dresses, tunic, oversized skirts, culottes, boxy jackets, crop and long outerwear.

Itang paid homage to his West Sumatran Minang heritage in a collective show titled “Urang Rantau” with Defrico Audy, Monika Jufry and Ria Miranda. He fused West Sumatra’s traditional clothes such as koto gadang, songket pandai sikek (woven cloth), lokcan batik and Padang-style embroidery with dynamic yet elegant designs that are wearable for women who do not wear the hijab.

More universal designs were found in his “The Dark Side” collection, the 12 sets of edgy, all-black women’s wear. Itang used unique details such as pleats, embroidery, drapery and bell sleeves to embellish the loose silhouettes.

MUSA WIDYATMODJO

In his collection “Nasionalista” — the term he coined to describe fashionista with an interest in traditional attire — Musa modernized Javanese fashion items such as the kebaya traditional blouse, kain wiron (a long cloth wrapped under the kebaya, with the front end made of pleats) and kemben (similar to a bustier) in his effort to bring Indonesia to the global market.

To match the attire, he also re-introduced selop, the open-heeled flats of Javanese traditional footwear, which will also become his next line in his 25-year-long career.

For his second collection, “My Romance”, Musa experimented with different motifs of batik to create comfortable, modest wear made with intricate cutting techniques and details such as lace and pearl beads.

ANNE AVANTIE

She started her career as costume designer and now her eponymous label is a household name for luxurious and artistic kebaya. For the fashion week, Anne presented her entire 50-piece “Jangi Janger” collection that reflects the beauty of Bali and sunrise.

The fusion of exotic designs and Balinese songket and hand-drawn prada (gold-leaf) cloth offers universal appeal in each design as Anne experimented with colors such as white, red, pink and gold. She also used blue, a color she had never used in previous collections.

She played with the floral motifs of brocade kebaya that appear again as the layer inside the songket or prada cloth.

DIDI BUDIARDJO

As usual, Didi adds an element of Javanese culture and tradition to his collection. This time, he takes inspiration from the royal procession grebeg sekaten.  The collection, “Sekaten”, combines the dandy soldier’s uniform with the Javanese noble’s costume in a set of tailored women’s wear in white, red, black and gold.

IVAN GUNAWAN

“Manggali” is an exclusive collection inspired by the Balinese folklore tale of Ratna Manggali, the innocent daughter of an evil spirit. Ivan created 15 women’s wear and four men’s wear pieces that included mini and midi dress, long-pleated skirt, coat, bomber jackets and jumpsuits in an edgy and gothic look. He used knit-sewing techniques and produced only one piece of each set.

RUDY CHANDRA

The brightly colored Bugis traditional woven cloth sengkang is an endless source of inspiration for the designer. A simple silhouette was all he needed to accentuate the fun and chic look in the “Malebbi” collection. He chose fresh colors of orange and lemon green and combined the zig-zagging motif of the traditional cloth with flower embroidery.

GLAM AND ART

A more glamorous option came from Barli Asmara, who collaborated with cosmetics brand Wardah to launch a book of his 15 years as designer and to showcase his latest collection during the fashion week.

Titled “Glittery & Glamour”, he took his cue from the bohemian look and bling-bling that one could actually wear to work and then go to an after-hours party.

The celebrated Tex Saverio added two haute couture designs to his Prive line to match his designs for the glass bottle of a bottled water company. He reflected the splash of water by adding blue sequins in a glamorous three-dimensional white dress.

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