Indonesia Fashion Week to showcase local crafts

February 01, 2017, 03.06 PM | Source: The Jakarta Post
Indonesia Fashion Week to showcase local crafts


JAKARTA. The annual Indonesia Fashion Week will return for its sixth installment from Feb. 1 to 5 at the Jakarta Convention Center, Central Jakarta, bringing new goals to develop local fashion crafts.

The flagship event of the Indonesian Fashion Designers and Fashion Entrepreneurs Association (APPMI) plans to present 25 shows involving about 200 designers, seminars and talk shows, as well as an exhibition featuring 520 fashion brands, including from Myanmar, Lebanon, India, Australia, Italy, Malaysia and South Korea.

The highlight of the five-day spread themed “Celebration of Culture” will be the transformation of local crafts in the hands of designers to enter the international market.

“We are committed to developing and promoting cultural heritage through fashion. The fashion event itself will bridge local artisans, designers and consumers in its goal to preserve the cultures and history of Indonesia,” said designer Poppy Dharsono, the co-founder of APPMI and the chairperson of Indonesia Fashion Week (IFW) 2017.

“Indonesian fashion should be seen as a statement of wisdom and concern for social, cultural and environmental issues.”

She spoke at a pre-event in the Sultan Hotel, Central Jakarta, which was also attended by Edy Putra Irawady, the deputy coordinating economic minister for industry and trade.

APPMI designers have taken an active role in supporting the government’s program of promoting 10 major tourist destinations, including East Nusa Tenggara.

At the pre-event they showcased some of their designs that use woven cloths from 22 regencies in East Nusa Tenggara.

“We upgrade the quality and give them a modern feel, appealing to both local and international markets,” said Poppy.

Besides the woven cloth, IFW 2017 will present the modernized embroidery called kerancang gunting produced by artisans in Kudus, Central Java, as well as fashion craft artisans from East Java’s Banyuwangi and Bali’s Gianyar.

For Muslim wear, according to Poppy, the designers will introduce the traditional women’s clothing of Bengkulu, known as kuluk.

To liven up the theme, creative director Ivan Gunawan said that visitors could learn about the intricate process of making traditional clothing in Indonesia through giant LED screens placed at the main entrance of the venue, as well as at the art installations at the center of the exhibition area.

The celebrity fashion designer said the organizer would create a 30-meter-long runway, only for Indonesian models to walk on.

“It will be an all-Indonesian event in which we will also promote our own models,” he said.

An unprecedented culinary section will showcase traditional Indonesian cuisine and delicacies where visitors will be able to sample some of the best Indonesian dishes.

APPMI, which received the International Star Award for Quality in the Gold Category in Geneva last year for the management of IFW, expects 150,000 visitors to attend the event and about Rp 120 billion (US$9 million) worth of transactions, a 20 percent increase over last year’s figure. (Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak)

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