Populo Batik, Lekat, Batik Berkah, Parang Kencana, Iwan Tirta Private Collection

A handful of contemporary Indonesian designers are paired with big batik brands to put a spin on what is typically perceived as traditional fabrics.

On day five of the Plaza Indonesia Fashion Week in March, a special curated show was titled “Kain” (cloth) to inspire the use of batik for various occasions and establish batik as the star of one’s closet. Kain presented the designers’ take on a number of established brands.

Parang Kencana x Wilsen Willim

This collaboration with Parang Kencana was the perfect avenue for designer Wilsen Willim to do something different — with color for starters.

“I only do white clothes, usually; [they’re] not even monochromatic,” he said.

In this collection however, he played with black, gray, purple, sky blue, navy and not forgetting, the usual white. It was a very concise mix with all 19 looks focusing on work wear, executed through interesting fabrications. But fitting was a visible issue as seen in jacket bunching, and this is to be taken seriously for a collection of suits.

But the smart styling saved such a flaw. A cocoon coat was paired with a long batik dress, with its ruffled cuffs peeping out the coat’s sleeves. Shirts were half-buttoned, with one panel tucked in a skirt or trousers, and the other hanging out. Silk scarves were tied under jackets only to peek out of their hems. They were also rolled and tied into mini-belts.

Finally, after a week of shows, here was a collection that feels relevant, showing the intent of big brands working together with the designers.

Lekat

It’s always great to have some fun. As 1980s Japanese pop blasted through the speakers, the intensity in the air disintegrated. What followed was a stream of bright, comfy outfits, each one with a completely new idea from the last that somehow falls together.

Amanda I. Lestari’s collection was so dreamy that it made you want to fall asleep. Usually, that’s a bad thing but not in this case. The fabrics were so snug that crawling into bed with them seemed like a great idea. It was fantasy, comfort, joy and pleasure all mixed into clothes.

Compared to other designers in the line-up, Amanda offered an atypical vocabulary of Indonesian fashion, while borrowing visibly from Japanese techniques like kumo shibori (an ancient dye technique) to create most of the crumpled materials. Yet most of Lekat’s textiles are made by the women of the Baduy tribe from Banten province. The fact that the clothes are sustainable is only an added bonus — their design merit remains first and foremost.

Among the standouts: a caped dress made out of tied scarves; a crumpled pair of pants with tiny floral details; and a pleated, white organza jumpsuit layered on top of a dress. These are all pretty daring clothes to be worn in a place like Jakarta, but it’s exciting to wait and find out who can rock them.

Rama Dauhan x Alleira Batik

This was an explosive show, what with 3D-like batik motifs projected on screen and an interesting mix of gamelan (traditional orchestra) and electronic music. But then, out came the clothes, which turned out to be murkier, and not as fresh as expected. Titled “Punika”, the collection aimed to be present, but in reality looked passé.

Apparently there are folks out there, who are not Barney the Dinosaur, that are still trying to convince us that dark green looks great with deep purple. That’s fine, but add batik, flouncy ruffles and flares to the mix, and it becomes an overwhelming sight.

While we can appreciate Rama Dauhan’s attempt at making trendy items like varsity jackets, running shorts and aloha shirts, they were overloaded with other ideas that were more relevant a decade ago, especially in terms of colors.

Batik Berkah x Barli Asmara

The mega-tiered tulle dress is hot right now. Rihanna was seen in Molly Goddard’s baby blue gown and Kim Kardashian wore the off-white version for a magazine cover. So, it makes sense that Barli Asmara would present this rendition as his opening look.

Barli had the 1920s as a source of inspiration: the jazz soundtrack, flapper girl hair and makeup, drop waists, fringes and feathers. But there were also panniers, corsets and leg o’ mutton sleeves, which hinted more towards European fashions at the turn of the century.

There were many notes in fitting, which is even more visible since he utilized batik with small motifs. Nevertheless, Asmara offered something refined overall. The last three looks were embellished with paillettes, which rang like bells, swaying side to side as the model paced down the runway.

Populo batik

Designers Joseph Lim and Ba’i Soemarlono looked to the lost Tibetan kingdom of Mustang for inspiration. This collection, titled “Purity”, was structured very specifically into three parts that explored the mountains, water and people.

Other than the fact that blue is an obvious color to symbolize water, it seemed like there was very little reason to use it for every single look. Honestly, there was just too much of the same thing. A huge reason was because the rippled motif was used almost on every piece. Maybe if it were used more sparingly, and other fabrics used more, the collection would look more concise.

KRATON Auguste Soesastro x Iwan Tirta Private Collection

Everyone can trust Auguste Soesastro to give us impeccable tailoring. The designer, who has had formal haute couture training at École de la Chambre Syndicale de la Couture in France (in addition to his degrees in film and architecture), is known for his meticulousness and has also gained a reputation as an “architectural” designer.

As the closing show, expectations ran high. People stayed this late in the evening just to see a marriage between Auguste’s clean repertoire and Iwan Tirta’s signature batik.

The first look — a rounded coat with kebaya (traditional blouse) collars belted at the waist was nice and safe but not his strongest look, considering that he’s shown simpler looks with more pow. But women were already gasping, which was an obvious indication of approval.

Standouts included jumpsuits and column dresses (all with kebaya collars). The highlights, however, were the trapeze tops with elegantly long trains, paired with contrasting skirts. They’re comparable to what Cristobal Balenciaga did in the 1960s — chic, simple and precise.

It was totally worth the wait.

— Photos Courtesy of Plaza Indonesia Fashion Week

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