Fashion Nation Strikes a Pose

This week, Senayan City, one of the upscale malls in Jakarta, will present the ninth edition of their signature Fashion Nation, and it seems the event is stronger than ever this year.

“We still remember how the Fashion Nation first started,” Senayan City chief executive Veri Y. Setiady said. “It wasn’t easy, but we carry on with the spirit to improve Indonesia’s fashion industry.”

“We named it ‘Fashion Nation’ as Indonesia has quite a rich fashion heritage,” Veri added. “[Indonesia] is indeed a fashion nation.”

The first Fashion Nation in 2007 featured the latest fashion collections by Indonesian designers, as well as the mall’s tenants.

The event has grown both in size and dimension.

“Over the years, we consistently feature great talents in the industry,” Veri said.

This year, the event will last from April 9-18, and will feature top fashion talent from Indonesia, as well as other Asian countries.

The event will open with a joint show of up-and-coming Indonesian designer Mel Ahyar and Thai designer Ek Thongprasert.

“It’s an honor for me to be able to participate again in the Fashion Nation,” Mel said.

In this opening show, Mel will present her latest fashion collection “Chintz,” featuring the floral batik motifs popularized from 1840-1940 under Dutch influence.

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Ek Thongprasert started his career as a jewelery designer before venturing out to create his own fashion collections. The Thai designer will present his special collection made of Indonesian batiks.

“Thongprasert will interpret Indonesian batiks in his own way,” said Aida Nurmala of Studio One, fashion event organizer, which assists in organizing the Fashion Nation event. “His collection will be very modern and unique.”

Fashion Nation will also present its special capsule collection by select Indonesian designers.

The first capsule collection by Senayan City was first launched at Jakarta Fashion Week (JFW) last year.

“It got a tremendous response from customers,” Veri said. “Everything was sold out.”

This year, their capsule collection will focus on batiks.

“I see more and more fashion designers use batiks these days,” Veri said. “And they’re very creative in their designs, resulting in fresh and young [batik] collections.”

The designers selected to create Senayan City’s capsule collection this year are Didiet Maulana, Iwet Ramadhan and Purana.

Didiet will present his special batik collection, themed “Simplicity.”

“My collection will be made of batiks in quiet earth tones, including the currently trendy color, Marsala,” Didiet said.

Iwet will present batiks in China blue hues, made by a traditional batik artisan from Garut, West Java, Jonathan Taufik.

“We’ve chosen [Jonathan] because of his consistency in developing Garut’s batiks,” Iwet said.

Jonathan is the fourth generation in his family to develop Garut’s batiks under the brand Batik Tulen Garut.

Iwet will make these Garut’s batiks into chic apparel for both men and women.

The capsule collection will be available in the Black Venue, a pop-up store on the ground floor of the mall, during Fashion Nation.

“The capsule collection is a form of tangible support by Senayan City for local fashion designers,” Iwet said. “They buy the collections from us [not on consignment], present them in a nice booth and promote them.”

This year’s Fashion Nation will also feature a battle between stylists and bloggers.

“We see that the roles of fashion stylists and bloggers has become increasingly important in the fashion industry,” Veri said. 

“They really help to introduce designers’ collections to the public.”

In a new highlight of Fashion Nation, a team of bloggers and stylists will battle against each other in styling models on a runway show that will be presented in the mall’s main atrium on April 15.

“We’ll see their creativity in mixing-and-matching outfits on the runway,” Veri said.

Theme is important in any fashion show.

“As the current [fashion] season is Spring/Summer, we’ll decorate the runway in a floral mood,” explains Aida Nurmala of Studio One.

For the decor, they will work with a talented floral artist, Andy Jati Utomo.

There will also be a fashion installation by senior fashion designer Didi Budiardjo to celebrate his 25th year in the fashion industry.

The installation, “Sawung Galing,” will be the designer’s tribute to the late Indonesian batik maestros Go Tik Swan and Iwan Tirta.

In addition to Didi’s, there will also be a pop-up installation on scarves by young Indonesian designer Patrick Owen. It will run through June 9.

The scarves in Patrick’s installation will be for sale, the proceeds of which will be donated to a select social foundation.

Fashion Nation will culminate with runway hits, featuring pret-a-porter labels that are currently the talk of the town.

Themed “Celebrasian,” this year’s runway hits will present the latest fashion collections by Tri Handoko and Stella Rissa, Japanese designer Atsuki Takahasi and Thai label ‘Q Design & Play.

“I’ve always been fascinated by the fashion industry in Japan and Thailand,” Veri said. “The presence of local brands is very strong in those countries. I hope when they come to Fashion Nation, they will help to inspire Indonesian designers to be more confident in their creations.”

Tri Handoko will present a special collection, themed “Warrior.”

“The collection will feature simple outfits with Zen-like clean looks,” Tri said.

Stella Rissa will present a very feminine collection with her ready-to-wear collection, themed “Maturity.”

“It represents a phase in my own life, in which I’m settling down,” said the designer, who recently got married.

No fashion events are complete with loud and memorable after parties.

This year, Senayan City will hail the Nikki Beach Club from Miami to host the after party on the mall’s rooftop.

“It will be the first time for [Nikki Beach] to set up a pop-up club at our after party,” Veri said.

The party will be hosted by jazz singer Andien, model Kelly Tandiono and actor Rio Dewanto.

In the after party, the mall will also present their annual Stylemaker Awards, consisting of “Most Stylish Female Celebrity,” “Most Stylish Male Celebrity,” “Most Stylish Socialite,” “Most Stylish Model” and the new award category “Most Stylish Social Media Darling.”

“We hope that the Stylemaker Awards will inspire many more young people to get into the fashion industry,” Veri said.