In Tour De Force Spring Collection, Designer Toton Januar Explores Indonesia’s Cultural Identity
Jakarta. Indonesian fashion designer Toton Januar debuted his spring-summer 2016 TOTON ready-to-wear line at Jakarta Fashion Week on Sunday.
The first model opened the show strutting down the runway with great confidence, made possible with her airy ensemble of an embellished white shirt and drawstring pants adorned in oriental dragon motifs.
“The starting point of every collection is always based on my instincts. This time, I’m influenced by my late grandmother,” the designer said.
In order to bring his vision to life, Toton explained that he was encouraged to look back on the history of Indonesian culture, a melting pot of foreign influences.
“As modern Indonesians, we probably don’t know if our blood lineage is Indonesian or Chinese or Dutch,” Toton said.
This exploration led him to combine traditional Indonesian crafting techniques with contemporary design, which has become his signature since the start of his label three years ago.
To wit, a digital print of “Batik Ayam Jago” motif — a favorite of his Javanese grandmother who wore batik and kebaya almost every day of her life — appeared on a sleek blazer dress with carved buttons.
“We decided to utilize digital print because creating a ready-to-wear collection requires a much faster pace,” Toton explained.
The motif, depicting roosters and floral shapes, is rendered in midnight blue and orange tones which felt modern. In another look, the print was applied on a cap-sleeved top — its waist cinched by a wide karate-inspired belt with golden scale embroideries.
But it was in the second-half of his show that Toton demonstrated the full range of his articulate design vocabulary.
While most looks featured sophisticated shades of cream and beige, the beauty of this collection particularly lay in its details. A knee-length skirt, for example, was covered with an overlay of strings and pearls in geometric arrangement, creating a hem of swishy fringes.
The designer’s attention to details was also apparent in the fringed sandals and statement jewelry pieces, from intricate chokers to sparkly long earrings.
An array of feminine white tops were decorated with hand-applied embroideries in botanical forms — balanced with layered asymmetrical pleated skirt and high-waisted pants with pearl accents. These white pieces harked back to Toton’s previous outings and could be seen as a connecting thread.
At a time when diversity is a hot-button topic in the international fashion industry, Toton has offered a seductive argument of Indonesia as a melting pot of cultures through this tour de force collection.
He also dispelled the assumption that traditional elements must look “ethnic” in order for one to fully appreciate Indonesian craftsmanship. Under his skillful hands, he instead transformed those into something modern and with a global appeal.
Having shown the same collection at a trade show during Paris Fashion Week last month, Toton remarked that he had received positive responses and sales from international buyers.
And if that fact made him the next ambassador of Indonesian fashion in the global arena, all the better.
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