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Jakarta Fashion Week 2021 embraces digital challenges and changes
The long-awaited prestigious fashion event returns later this month with some innovations to stream runway shows, webinars and film screenings directly to attendees.
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ubbed as the largest runway show in Southeast Asia, Jakarta Fashion Week (JFW) 2021 is set to present the latest fashion trendsetters in clothing and accessories on a digital platform.
“This year, all content will be prerecorded and fully digitalized. We also shorten the [event] from the usual week to four days,” JFW director Lenni Tedja said at a virtual press conference on Thursday.
JFW 2021 is to be livestreamed this year from Nov. 26-29 on JFW.TV, a microsite on the event’s official website, jakartafashionweek.co.id. The event will also be aired on the JFW’s social media accounts as well as the websites of event partners.
Meanwhile, the production will be run from Senayan City, the South Jakarta shopping mall that is one of the city’s fashion hubs and the official venue of the JFW.
This year’s event features as many as 16 shows to showcase the designs of 61 local labels and designers. It will also host a special tribute to Barli Asmara in the Dewi Fashion Knights runway show, which is to be presented in a different format.
Barli, a seminal figure in Indonesian fashion, passed away in August from a chronic illness. He was 42. Among Indonesia’s pioneering designers, Barli was known for his closing number, which was always worth the wait for its fresh and quirky concept.
Among the lineup are Rani Hatta, Restu Anggraini, Batik Chic, Tities Saputra, Wilsen Willim, Amot Syamsurimuda, Albert Yanuar, Kami, Yosafat Dwi Kurniawan, Lekat, Calla The Label, Cotton Ink, Jenahara, Bateeq and Rinaldy Yunardi with his foowear line, Refounders.
JFW 2021 is also collaborating with international partners so it could accommodate foreign labels and designers to take part in the fashion week. Its eight international partners are the British Council, the Department of International Trade Promotion Thailand, Erasmus Huis, the Dutch Embassy, Institut Français d’Indonésie, Istituto Marangoni, Japan Fashion Week Organization and the Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA).
“Aside from the [prerecorded] runway shows, [our foreign partners] will also hold webinars and screen documentary films during the event. The digital platform has actually enabled our foreign partners to create more [content] for the event without physically coming to Jakarta,” said Lenni.
Acknowledging the difficulties in arranging and managing multiple online activities, Lenni said that the JFW 2021 team had to adapt to the transformation in a short time while strictly complying with the coronavirus health protocols.
The team started organizing some activities amid the height of the global health crisis as part of its Road to Jakarta Fashion Week 2021, including the Menswear Fashion Competition (LPM Menswear) 2020, and the biennial Accessories Fashion Competition (LPA).
The 10 finalists of each competition will present their creations at the JFW as the final stage of the competitions, along with the incubated designers from the Indonesian Fashion Forward program.
In August, the JFW held the Revival Fashion Festival, which combined fashion and entertainment in a digital format. The festival was part of its campaign to introduce new possibilities for the industry to overcome the social and physical restrictions.
In July, the JFW Model Search scouted new runway talents, and selected Rizal Rama and Maria Karina male and female "Icons of JFW 2021".
“It will feel different walking on the runway without an audience,” Maria, a senior high school student in South Kalimantan, said during the press conference. “Such conditions, however, will make us do our best to look perfect, because the audience watching us online will give us their undivided attention.”
To maintain the hype surrounding the event since the inaugural JFW 2008, Lenni said that the team had come up with a strategy that aligned with this year’s “Inspiring Creativitism” campaign.
“The key to making the online event attractive is creativity. We encourage the designers to give extra attention to their creative ideas for the JFW this year,” she said.
The campaign encourages fashion designers and industry players to continue contributing to the industry, despite the weakening economy as a result of the pandemic. (ste)
