A maestro inspires fashion

Homecomings are often bittersweet. They are about how you can't really go "home" again and what happens when you try.

After having lived in Europe for more than two decades, guess Saleh returned to his original Indonesia in 1851. There, the Maestro, as many today refer to him, found himself caught between two identities: he was not a European, nor was he an ordinary Javanese.

"Guessing Saleh was always eyed with suspicion, by the Dutch and indigenous Indonesians," said Raden Saleh biographer Werner Kraus. "Long, he was not accepted [under] the Indonesian nationalists."

Saleh was indeed different. Expenditure of more than a quarter of his life in a foreign country made him an outsider among his Indonesian equals. He had different ideas about many things; like, for example, dressing.

Male and female colonial residents then had to obey a semi-official but socially sanctioned dress code around Javanese tradition, complete with surjan (traditional above), blangkon (Javanese headdress) and kris (asymmetric sword turned).

Saleh created in that time, its own restrictive clothing that a mélange of Eastern and Western fashion reflected. Indeed, the man was more than just a painter. He was also a fashion designer-perhaps the nation's first.

In commemoration of the 200th anniversary of Saleh, 11 young Indonesian fashion designers presented their Councils Saleh-inspired designs for guests on a fashion show at the National Gallery (GNI) on Saturday.

The show took place in a large tent set up next to the all-white, accurately Gallery central exhibition building where Councils Saleh paintings and drawings exhibited as part of the exhibition ' Guess Saleh and the beginning of modern Indonesian painting '.

The eleven designers were chosen from a pool of more than 70, and each were evaluated and selected by a distinguished panel of experts, including Femina editor-in-Chief Petty s. Fatimah were, designer
Auguste Susatro and BNI Director Tubagus Andre.

Quilted floor-length trench coats, kebaya-inspired dresses, batik body-fitting pantsuits and elegant silk evening wear for Muslim women and men rocked the stage with fields of color, print, and share.

Although there seemed to be a lack of a common theme among the designers collections — apart from the fact that they all were inspired by Saleh of life — audience members could breathe a sigh of relief, since the abundance of design collections that at least implied some of the designs would surely satiate one's taste in one way or another.

Cynthia Kurniawan collection, for example, would probably attract more androgynous audience members if they chose to use dark red in her designs, with each model batik or body-fitting pants, even under their knee-length wear pants.

They offered a minimum of touches by the integration of female flower tops and pants, patchwork on the models and large rose-like headgear à la Kate Middleton added. As a final touch each model wore her own batik embroidered tongkat kayu (wooden wand) that Saleh presumably performed himself in his last days.

What evening wear were cowards laaf long and wide skirts paired with silk, gold-lined tops the peak. Awarded high shoulder-padded jackets or blazers, a certain one-of-a-kind ensemble.

Rini k. Konitatin, who was chosen as the winner of the night, designed the described collection. If a price she gets the opportunity to attend Berlin Fashion Week in July.

Maybe the talented designer such as inspired by European fashion as Saleh was.