DEWI FASHION KNIGHTS – SERVING UP EMOTIONS TO CLOSE THE 17TH JFW

Images courtesy of Getty Images & DFK

Denny Wirawan, Adrian Gan and Sejauh Mata Memandang

Every year, the finale of Jakarta Fashion Week (JFW) is a show named Dewi Fashion Knights (DFK), where designers selected by Dewi Magazine unfurled their most fashionable creations. Starting last year, DFK is split into the ready-to-wear and the couture shows. This year, the couture evening shows Denny Wirawan, Adrian Gan and Sejauh Mata Memandang.

Denny Wirawan

Denny Wirawan has long been known for his beautiful design and fine tailoring. Worn as separates or ensembles, often his pieces are head turners. It is no surprise that his shows are frequented by society swans.

Denny Wirawan

For DFK 2024 during the 17th Jakarta Fashion Week, Denny Wirawan returned to Kudus batik, a genre he’s worked with for at least a decade. Kudus is a town on the northern coast of Java where indigenous Javanese, Chinese traders and Islamic preachers have lived alongside each other for centuries.

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Flowers play a major part in Javanese culture from one’s birth to death, even for the Muslims. Denny dyed his hand-drawn Kudus batik in dark palette imbued with golden tone, quite a departure from the vibrant hues he’s known for over a quarter of century. The result was a starkly-colored collection of capes, gowns and skirts that felt warm and grand.

Adrian Gan

Adrian Gan is a name associated with daring choices in materials. While heritage handwoven songket was largely known to be heavy and rigid, 8 years ago Adrian Gan collaborated with a songket maker in West Sumatera that had found techniques to make songket lighter and flexible. Earlier this year, he worked with discarded materials from another brand to whip up a cute collection.

Adrian Gan

At DFK this year, Adrian chose vintage batiks from Tuban, vintage laces from his private collection and digital prints to build a wonderful array of coats, pants, and flyaway tops. Half of the collection harked back to the colonial era silhouettes, the other half felt current. A pair of wedding ensembles in finale wrapped his presentation like a sweet, quaint bow.

Adrian Gan

Chitra Subyakto, the creative motor behind Sejauh Mata Memandang, collaborated with artists Felix Tjahyadi and Eko Nugroho for an artistic collection that elevated the quintessentially ready-to-wear brand to another realm.

Sejauh Mata Memandang

Leftover materials, handwoven fabrics and batiks were upcycled to form not just clothing, but also structural frames that either partially or fully covered the models. Eko Nugroho’s iconic drawings of watching eyes and otherworldly forms were splashed throughout the collection anchored in black and white. Both Eko and Chitra are known to pay close attention to social upheavals, so the collection aptly titled “Republik Setengah Mata” (“half-seeing republic” in Indonesian) could be interpreted as their angry protest at the government turning blind eye to real problems and occasionally silencing critics. Sharp emotions don’t always need to be ugly; on JFW runway that evening, apparent anger was beautifully artistic.

Sejauh Mata Memandang

Overall, this year’s second night of DFK delivered well. Emotions would have been more stirred if the order had been reversed. Designer seniority notwithstanding, visuals play more powerful impact on guests and viewers. The collection showing up most dramatic looks should’ve been designated the last to ensure guests and viewers still retained fresh eyes for the other showing designers. A small footnote at the end of a long, arduous journey.

Sejauh Mata Memandang

Until next year, DFK!  (-Lynda Ibrahim-)