Alleira Batik x Rama Dauhan (Courtesy of Magnifique PR)

It’s been quite a year for Indonesian fashion players.

While the Indonesian retail fashion market hasn’t fully rebounded from last year, 2018 has shown that notable Indonesian designers have taken a more creative approach in growing their brands. Some collaborate and some speculate, but all try to spread their wings while holding ground in the current business environment. Perhaps the old adage is true: innovation comes in hard times.

The year started with couture powerhouse Sebastian “Seba” Gunawan collaborating with Aqua to redesign the surface visual of the brand’s premium label, Reflections.

Marketed mainly in upscale restaurants to compete with the likes of Perrier and Equil, Aqua Reflections comes in the form of an elegant glass bottle with a surface visual that was previously designed by fashion designer Tex Saverio and contemporary artist Eko Nugroho.

From the hands of Seba, two visual designs, both of which drew inspiration from the Lunar New Year, emerged, accompanied by a 63-piece couture collection.

While this type of branching out is not new to Seba — anyone who has ever stayed at a certain plush hotel in Medan, North Sumatra, will remember its chic Seba-designed toiletries — the exposure is certainly much more prominent. The business match is fitting, too, as the society swans who can afford Seba’s ball gowns typically float exclusively around fine dining establishments where only premium bottled water is served.

Sebastian Gunawan (Courtesy of sebastiangunawan.com)

Creative collaborations were also actively engineered by Plaza Indonesia this year. During its annual fashion event, a score of talented young designers worked alongside its established batik clothing tenants to produce capsule collections. Rama Dauhan’s sassy twist on Alleira Batik’s easy pieces and Auguste Soesastro’s revival take on Iwan Tirta’s classic motifs weren’t only splendid, they were delightful to witness come to life.

The spirit of collaboration was extended later in the year, when another group of rising designers shared the stage with Plaza Indonesia’s renowned jeweler tenants. Fresh from closing another weeklong fashion event in Jakarta, Wilsen Willim took the pastel-colored half of his collection to match with Tiffany’s youthful flower-inspired designs, a wonderful pairing with cross-selling potential for both parties.

One category that seems to remain growing amid the slow times is modest fashion, as Muslim Fashion Festival (Muffest) would attest. The largest yet in its three-year run, Muffest 2018 featured at its bazaar wide selections from the understated luxury of Kami Idea, edgy silhouettes of Diniira on the runway and the urban practicality of Nooresport, a local sports brand dedicated to hijab-wearing women.

Certain designers under contract with local cosmetics juggernaut Wardah enjoyed the brighter spotlight, while the smaller names had little difficulty attracting attention or booking sales from the swelling crowd.

Itang Yunasz (Courtesy of De Young Museum)

All of this does not mean the category lacks initiative. A strategic collaboration was introduced by Itang Yunasz, a modest fashion stalwart, during 2018 Indonesia Fashion Week. Instead of being complacent about the successes of Itang Yunasz Couture and Kamilaa, Itang keeps spreading his wings.

Working with Alzara, a modest fashion purveyor owned by Planet Surf Group, Itang launched Allea, a mid-priced label for fashionably modest women to be sold exclusively through Alzara’s physical stores (mainly outside Java) and online platform.

With this, Itang essentially created a flanker between his two existing labels that also works as a spearhead into the digital marketplace. It was a risky bet, yet one that may just fare better than Kabana, the label Itang previously created with sarong maker Gajah Duduk.

His 37 years of experience and unwavering spirit have also gotten Itang Yunasz the honor of being included in the ongoing Contemporary Muslim Fashions exhibition at San Francisco’s De Young Museum. Perhaps more impressively, he was chosen as the cover of a 320-page luxe book published by the museum for the exhibition.

Mel Ahyar (Courtesy of melahyarfirst.com)

Mel Ahyar and Andreas Odang, resourceful members of the Indonesian Fashion Designers’ Council (IPMI), also made waves this year.

The luxury ready-to-wear Mel Ahyar First (MAF) created a catchy Eid capsule collection with Cotton Ink. Priced at a fraction of MAF’s usual costs, its pieces were flying off the shelves in the first weeks of Ramadan.

Announced during the 11th Jakarta Fashion Week (JFW), Andreas Odang marshaled the skills behind his posh cocktail dresses to design a stylish capsule collection for Luna Habit. The pieces were aimed at office workers, a lucrative demographic mostly undermined by Indonesian designers.

The collaborations brought Mel Ahyar and Andreas Odang to a larger market beyond their usual stomping grounds, leverage that is valuable for the long careers ahead of them.

Tiffany & Co X Wilsen Willim (Courtesy of Tiffany & Co X Wilsen Willim)

Last but not least, there were collaborations that were less about business and more about social issues. This year’s JFW revisited the fast fashion phenomenon and its environmental impact, while giving a nod to the disabled.

During its annual trend event, IPMI designers across generations each designed a white shirt for One Fine Sky to raise funds for underprivileged children’s school uniforms. Gimmicky as cynics may accuse them to be, the scale of JFW and the stature of IPMI did raise awareness about the aforementioned issues.

The year 2018 has been a big one for Indonesian fashion players. As fashion is inherently the meeting of creativity and business, it was exciting to see some fashion stakeholders shelve their egos and join hands with collaborators in order to grow.

Is this shift to become the new norm, or will it dissipate once retail business comes back roaring? Nobody knows, but the dynamics of the fashion scene this year have certainly been noteworthy.

Teatum Jones (JP/Charisa Vanessa G)