Dewi Fashion Knights (DFK) — the most awaited runway at Jakarta Fashion Week (JFW) — is set to present breakthroughs and inspiration for designers for their next look.

Celebrated designers Auguste Soesastro, Mel Ahyar, Jeffry Tan and Adrian Gan have been selected to showcase their creations based on the theme of “Borderless” for DFK, the climatic runway that closes the annual JFW.

The fashion week, dubbed the largest of its kind in Southeast Asia, opens on Oct. 22 and runs until Oct. 28 at Senayan City shopping mall in Central Jakarta. The DFK runway is scheduled on the fashion week’s final day.

JFW will feature over 2,800 pieces from the 2020 Summer/Spring collection by over 260 labels from both Indonesian designers and their foreign counterparts to be showcased in 76 runway shows.

International partners returning this year are British Council, Japan Fashion Week Organization, Korea Model Association and Korea Creative Content Agency as well as Tunis Fashion Week as the latest to join the list. JFW 2020 is also supported by the Tourism Ministry, Education and Culture Ministry, the Jakarta administration, as well as the embassies of Tunisia and Austria.

“Every year we raise a theme that is relevant to the times, and ‘Borderless’ is inspired by the development of information technology that gives access to open information. Social media is the real example of how the world is merging into one, without borders,” Margaretha Untoro, editor-in-chief of Dewi, Indonesia’s oldest fashion and lifestyle magazine, told a press conference on Oct. 9.

This year’s four knights have their own ideas and interpretations on the theme which actually enrich the definition of the word itself.

Mel Ahyar’s would be the closest one to the main idea as she used social media behavior as her inspiration to create 16 looks in a collection titled “Skins”.

“Our social media personality is our second skin and doesn’t necessarily reflect how we are in real life. But they are often inseparable, the border is blurred. Sometimes, when we put on a mask we can become ourselves,” she explained, adding that the collection could become a reminder of mental health issues.

A different idea came from Auguste Soesastro, who is known as an experimental design artist who once used pineapple fibers for his capsule collection.

“I observed a change in formal wear. People no longer go to work wearing a blazer and skirt. People want to appear more casual so they wear sportswear to work. I’m still studying what makes sportswear and I’m thinking about horse-back riding clothes, not activewear people wear in a gym,” said Auguste, who had finished 80 percent of the work at the time of the press conference.

Jeffry Tan, who has dressed Hollywood celebrities such as Zendaya, Kristen Stewart and American singer-songwriter Carrie Underwood, said he still felt the pressure of preparing for the DFK runway.

He said his designs derived from his experiments to “shrink the shoulder” by playing with details. “It will be a unisex look, where there will be only one mood and attitude,” Jeffry said.

Couturier Adrian Gan, renowned for his orientalism with an embroidery style, took the theme a bit further, saying he would use the monochromatic ulos, the ikat woven fabric from the Batak ethnic group in North Sumatra.

“This collection is more wearable, no couture, nothing. It is inspired by how Indonesians dressed in the past, just by wrapping and folding the cloth around their bodies,” Adrian said.

“There will be no formula or strict rules that I have to follow in making this collection. I decided to be more laid back, doing whatever I want and become myself.” (ste)

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