Ashraf Siddiqui
Doha
The Indonesian Embassy in Qatar hosted a two-day ‘The Journey to Indonesian Fashion’ fashion show recently.
The event was attended by Ambassador of Indonesia to Qatar HE Ridwan Hassan, Qatar fashion enthusiasts, guests and members of the Indonesian community.
The fashion show was organised by the embassy of Indonesia in cooperation with Cita Tenun (CTI) and Rumah Tenun (RTI) Indonesian to promote Indonesian fashion work with its traditional ‘Wastra Nusantara’ fabrics from Indonesian Archipelago.
CTI and RTI work to preserve and revitalise the art of Indonesian woven textiles. For this, the institutions participate in various exhibitions across the regions. CTI also projects and promotes Indonesian traditional textiles through publication of books and encouraging the designers through various exhibitions across the regions.
Three eminent fashion designers from Indonesia -- Mel Ahyar, DanjyoHiyoji and Eridani -- accompanied their groups on the occasion. They showcased the beauty of their works at the event by creatively combining various traditional fabrics into their designs. The three designers also took part in a talk show discussing Indonesian fabrics use in contemporary fashion industry in Indonesia and ‘meet and greet’ with the designers.
Visiting Qatar for the second time, Mel Ahyar brought around 10 new designs from her collection ‘KawinCampur 2.0’ (Mixed Marriage 2.0) combining several woven motifs from various Indonesian regions into one form and look. The collection is portraying harmony and peace, unity in diversity.
Designer Danjyo Hiyoji participated with his collection of ‘TitikTemu’ (Meeting Point), which also combines best weaving fabrics from various regions in Indonesia into a design that is wearable, modern and youthful.
On his part, designer Eridani took the opportunity to show his utilisation of natural dyed and traditional loom handcrafted fabrics to display how the richness of Indonesian fabrics blend into current times and fast paced urban lifestyle.
The fashion show and exhibition attracted more than 100 fashion enthusiasts from Qatar.
