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Photos via Bakti Budaya DjarumDesigner Denny Wirawan brings his Balijava collection to New York WORDS Aulia R
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Photos via Bakti Budaya Djarum
Designer Denny Wirawan brings his Balijava collection to New York
WORDS Aulia R. Sungkar
Accompanied by ethnic Indonesian music, a stunning array of models wearing edgy and elegant batik gracefully walked on the runaways of Fashion Gallery New York Fashion Week 2016.
Held at the Affinia Hotel in Manhattan on Valentine's Day, the show saw renowned fashion designer Denny Wirawan spread his love of batik to members of the Big Apple's fashion community with 15 designs from his latest fall/winter collection.
The collection, titled Balijava, takes as its theme 'padma', or lotus flower'a symbol of timeless beauty and purity in Asian cultures.
Supported by the Bakti Budaya Djarum Foundation, Denny showcased his batik kudus designs at the international level.
'It is an honor for me to introduce batik kudus as one item of our national heritage to the international fashion community here in New York,' Denny, who has 20 years of industry experience, said.
Balijava's batik kudus uses a darker color palette with navy blues, olive greens, beiges and blacks.
On offer is a deluxe ready-to-wear collection with layers featuring tops, outer, long skirts, pants, capes, long coats and long dresses that can be mixed and matched.
Batik kudus uses the wajikan and kecer motifs as a base, combining the patterns with lotus flower shapes.
Renitasari Adrian, program director of the Bakti Budaya Djarum Foundation, which has been fostering batik kudus and preserving traditional Indonesian wastra fabric, spoke about working with Denny.
'Batik kudus is from the coastal heritage of Central Java. The collaboration with Denny Wirawan for the Balijava collection helps elevate the prestige of batik on the international fashion stage'and is a great momentum to show the beauty of Indonesia's cultural heritage to the world.'
Past Meets Present
The first 10 looks of Balijava featured designs that were fresh, modern and edgy'loose pants combined with fitted tops highlighting the body and outerwear patterns that blended modern silhouettes with Denny's trademark embroidery.
Denny is inspired by the elegance of Indonesian fashion in the past, such as items like the kebaya and beskap traditional formal Javanese dress for women and men, respectively.
Both were transformed by Denny into contemporary, ready-to-wear pieces.
Other looks featured glamorous and elegant designs'long dresses paired with long coats, and capes with the kecer rice motif as base.
The collection was also complemented by jewelry from EPAJEWEL, showing the beauty and exotic charm of Indonesian culture.
Pieces from EPAJEWEL, a local brand that has penetrated the international market, were lusciously designed to complement the beauty of Balijava, EPAJEWEL designer Eliana Putri Antonio said.
'We crafted our collection especially for New York Fashion Week 2016, inspired by Indonesia's flora creating the 'shining branch's bud',' Eliana said. 'The designs consist of hair combs, earrings, brooches, crowns and bracelets that are very beautiful.'
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Some like it 'haute'
Gucci's Flower Power
The first name that springs to mind upon witnessing Alessandro Michelle's boho-luxe, maximalist collection for Gucci is Florence Welch of Florence + The Machine. It seems fitting, then, that the Italian fashion house named the singer a brand ambassador for its jewelry and timepieces department.
Michele says he is intrigued by the artist's dark and romantic songs, which are timeless, full of passion and emotion. 'In many ways,' he says, 'they evoke the spirit of Gucci.'
Welch's favorite piece is the G-Timeless automatic number, which features an eclectic mix of decorative bees, a heart and stars.
Louboutin, All Night Long
Christian Louboutin's inimitable red sole is perhaps one of the best designs ever, synonymous with class and preferred by women worldwide who favor understated stylish sexiness.
The designer's latest collection 'Claire de Lune', which is French for moonlight, features multicolored Strass applications using crystals'in four different sizes and 11 different colors'on velour and python skin. If that doesn't scream sexy party girls, then we don't know what does.
Old but Gold in London
London Fashion Week continues to be a hotbed for fashion's underdogs. As the glitterati migrated from New York to London'the second city of the fashion week tour'many were intrigued by the so-called 'Fifty Plus Fashion Week' show, held by brand JD Williams at Luxe Cafe Royal on Feb. 18.
Marie Helvin, 63, opened the show, followed by an army of retired models, including the UK's oldest, Daphne Selfe, who is 87 years young.
It was the first show ever with a full cast of models over aged over 50. Most remarkably was Caroline Barker, who at 70, styled all the models herself. +JPlus
