Adrian Gan (JP/Don)

Designer Adrian Gan presented a festive feel to the classic brown Javanese batik, while Didi Budiardjo embarked on a journey to the Dutch East Indies era through his floral Pekalongan batik collection.

The parade of models in dresses of batik and vividly colored garments enlivened the classic marble building of Textile Museum in Tanah Abang, Jakarta, on Oct. 2, the day that the country celebrates as National Batik Day following UNESCO'€™s recognition of the traditional Indonesian cloth in 2009.

The dresses belong to the Ondel Ondel Bohemian collection by Adrian Gan. Those who live in Jakarta will know ondel-ondel, the tall Betawi effigies dressed in brightly colored garments.

For his collection, Adrian took the ondel-ondel color palates to splash a cheerful nuance to the classic patterns and brown shades of Javanese sogan batik.

The result is an unexpectedly edgy yet graceful look.

Adrian made a surprising twist to the geometrical-dominated sogan batik cloaked dress by adding a striking crimson collar and additional skirt.

In another piece, a bright yellow collar is added to a dark brown sogan long-sleeved shirt.

He combined several sogan batik motifs and chartreuse yellow linings in a sleeveless A-line dress that is voluminous and flowing. More festivity is felt in a layered shirt with large red and deep pink tassels dangling from the neckline.

The bohemian feel is palpable on the A-line silhouettes and the colorful, fluffy ball-shaped accessories.

Some dresses appear to be rigorously constructed, such as a double-layered peplum batik top beautifully embellished with a black and red knitted necklace.

It was a trip back to the glorious days of the Dutch East Indies in Indonesia during the fashion show of the Uri Uri collection by Didi Budiardjo. The collection takes its name from the Javanese word for '€œnurturing to preserve'€.

The collection'€™s 19 pieces are Didi'€™s homage to the madams of Dutch and Chinese descent, whom he fondly called Nyonya Belanda and Peranakan in the early 1900s, who helped shape batik of Central Java'€™s Pekalongan today.

He said between 1810 and 1910, during the Dutch colonial era, the batik industry in Pekalongan was dominated by people of Dutch descent.  

'€œThe Dutch madams created batik with patterns of European flowers, such as carnation, peony and chrysanthemum,'€ Didi said.

'€œIt is amusing to see that they put flowers blooming in fall and spring in one batik garment. It is logically impossible but interesting.'€

There was an air of romance about the collection'€™s white dresses with blue and red flowery patterns. Didi put an Edwardian touch on a simple batik dress by embracing the neckline and shoulders with intricate lace.

He invigorated a V-neckline batik dress with classic ruffle sleeves.

The next line of models was resplendent in opulent venetian red batik dresses with colorful flowery details.

The most notable pieces were a blouson dress and a long red coat beautifully embellished with batik patterns and tassels.

In the spirit to reintroduce the forgotten heritage, Didi added four white lace kebaya blouses to his collection.

'€œPeople are familiar with the embroidered Peranakan or Encim kebaya, but we also have lace kebaya that was popular among Dutch madams and those of Chinese descent.'€

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