Milestones:"10 Langkah Ria Miranda" exhibition showcases the designer's 10-year career.

Fashion designer Ria Miranda celebrates her decade-long tenure in the Indonesian modest wear fashion industry with an exhibition highlighting her milestone achievements and her collaboration with Microsoft’s artificial intelligence (AI) system, Rinna.

The exhibition, titled “10 Langkah RiaMiranda” (10 Steps of RiaMiranda), celebrates Ria Miranda’s career, turning the first floor of Senayan City mall into a showcase of her milestone achievements.

Visitors will find a timeline of each year in Ria’s career, highlighting her achievements and providing trivia about each year.

Her story began in 2009 after her graduation from ESMOD Jakarta, where the RiaMiranda brand started from a blogspot.com website selling a total of six designs. 

Fast forward to 2019: Ria has expanded to several sub-brands and diffusion lines, including the Luna line for children and RiaMiranda Living for home goods.

She said creating the exhibition, which runs until Dec. 1, helped her remember the people she worked with and her initial dream to be a designer.

“At first I wanted to be the number one Muslim brand in Indonesia, but then the idea developed as time went on and we’re now turning our focus to lifestyle, hence the home and living line featuring linen sprays and bed sheets,” she said, adding that she wanted the RiaMiranda brand to be accessible in everyday situations.

To another decade: Ria Miranda began her journey in 2009 with a blog, and ended 2019 with multiple sub-brands and an annual show.

Visitors will also find a representation of Ria’s working space, featuring a desk tastefully arranged with the
designer’s tools: a sketchbook flipped open to a clothing sketch, a poseable mannequin and various types of
stationery.

Next up is the mini workshop, where visitors can acquire a customized tote bag to commemorate the exhibition. 

In this section, there is a display promoting Microsoft’s artificial intelligence (AI) system Rinna, which collaborated with the RiaMiranda brand to create a line of limited-run headscarves for the exhibition. The collaboration is the first of its kind in Indonesia.

Rinna, which began life as a “chatbot” on the messaging service LINE, created four original designs for the headscarves by using inputted keywords. The AI then produced the four patterns in the span of hours. The designs were then finalized by the RiaMiranda design team.

Microsoft Indonesia director of marketing and operations Linda Dwiyanti said the AI had learned the works of 236 notable artists through neural-network learning, which allows the system to read emotions as well.

Those looking to purchase the headscarves will be able to view themselves in the designs by scanning their barcodes. The shoppers will be prompted to take a selfie and the computer will provide a rendering of the shopper wearing the headscarf.

RiaMiranda cofounder and managing director Pandu Rosadi said that even though technological advancements now played multiple roles in the design process, he was not worried they would take over many jobs in the industry.

“In the process, we don’t only worry about the patterns, but also long-term plans as well. [...] I think the creative industry is an industry that’s hard to be replaced with technology, because there is still a need for a human touch.”

Shop some more: The exhibition showcases Ria's latest collection.

Directly next to the section is a showcase of 12 looks from Ria’s 10 collections throughout the year. The
display highlights standout looks and where each collection was originally showcased. The earliest collection is “Minang Heritage” from Jakarta Fashion Week in 2012, while the latest is “Kolase” for the Spring/Summer 2019 season.

In the center of the space, visitors will find a dedicated section for discussions and talks. The room will host a number of events for Ria’s loyal fanbase, dubbed the RiaMiranda Loyal Community (RMLC).

Another part of the exhibition is a pop-up shop where Ria’s creations are put for sale. The shop will stock her fourth book, with the same title as the exhibition, as well as the commemorative Dekade (Decade) collection.

A decade down the line, Ria said there came a point where she wanted to step back to focus on other things in her life, a topic addressed in the book.

She wanted the book to be from the perspective of Pandu as both cofounder and husband.

“So it’s like, if there are questions, then I will answer them. It’s purely Pandu’s perspective in wording and storyline. It’s a total nostalgia for us in creating the book.” (ste)

— Photos courtesy of Studio One