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Tapping potential young voters from the Citayam Fashion Week phenomenon
The rural youths are known to be less diverse than the urban ones, who have so many distinct interests and activism issues they want to bring forward.
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Right to assemble: People from Jakarta’s outskirts gather near Dukuh Atas MRT station in Central Jakarta on July 14. The station has recently gained public attention as young people from the outskirts of Jakarta, known as the Sudirman Citayam, Bojonggede and Depok (SCBD) community, use the public space as a place to hang out and be seen. (Antara/Muhammad Adimaja)
Public places in Jakarta’s most strategic areas have recently been filled with a new phenomenon referred to as “Citayam Fashion Week”: underprivileged youths from Jakarta’s outskirts, in this case Citayam near Bogor, West Java, dress up in downtown public places and facilities with their peers.
The disparity between public spaces in their area and the ones in the city center drives them to flock to the latter. They gather in certain spots sporting clothing pieces and accessories that scream fashion statements to express themselves -- hence the term derived from infamous fashion events held regularly in cosmopolitan cities such as New York, Paris and Milan.
Despite the seemingly splendid reference, the term is intended to be pejorative and condescending to disparage the youths’ low socioeconomic backdrop. This is due to the visuals these youths exhibit in their appearance, which may be regarded as plebeian and distasteful -- in contrast to the common aesthetic standard upheld by privileged urban youths.
However, it is important not to overlook the difference in purchasing powers between the two social statures. Citayam youths ought to be thriftier when keeping up with the ever-changing trends albeit with their constrained resources. Finite access to more sophisticated content that would broaden their fashion insights may also play a role in the situation.
On the other hand, many also applaud these youngsters for creatively overcoming their limits. They add new nuances to the oversaturated urban-fashion scenery with eccentric style as covered by the Japanese fashion media (Tokyo Fashion, 2022); furthermore, while asserting their rights to occupy decent public spaces. which are lacking due to improper urban-planning strategies.
Economically speaking, the activity has also been reported to add revenue streams for the street vendors in surrounding areas. Not to mention that it improves the digital content productivity of these Citayam youths as can be seen on social media like TikTok, Instagram and YouTube. Some of them even turned out to attain more of the spotlight than others and use it to advocate their rights in public places and express themselves accordingly.
