Alvin
January 27th, 2006, 04:09 AM
This thread is about Indonesians who create ripples abroad, in whatever field they do, e.g. Anggun (now French artist), Ali Alatas (special UN envoy) etc.
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Indonesian designer rises like phoenix on Paris catwalks
PARIS (AFP): As a teenager, Indonesian designer Farah Angsana spent hours happily creating dresses for her sister and mother.This week she was showing off her sophisticated, sexy gowns in Paris, the hallowed home of haute couture.
The 34-year-old has come a long way from Medan, the capital city of North Sumatra, where she was born. And the journey has not always been easy.
On Monday she was one of only two newcomers invited to take part in the packed unofficial "off" calendar organized alongside Paris haute couture week, with a collection she styled as her "come-back" onto the international scene.
"I have always loved fashion. Fashion is my passion, but it is not my life. I used to think when I was young that fashion was my life. Then I started to realize it's only my work," she toldAFP, reflecting on her reasons for an absence of two-and-a-half years.
Her new women's haute couture collection of glamorous, sensual evening wear was inspired by the story of the Japanese geisha, currently very "a la mode" with the launch of US director StevenSpielberg's film of "Memoirs of a Geisha".
But it was also drawn from the myth of the phoenix, the golden bird constantly reborn out of fire, and which for Angsana has become a metaphor of her life.
"It's a collection inspired basically by myself as a person. I have been reborn," she said.
"I'm coming back. I've done this and I've done that, and I'm now coming back. I'm just like a bird flying here and flying there. But I don't want to be just a bird, so I decided to be a phoenix."
Angsana, a graduate of the London College of Fashion, has journeyed far, having been educated in the US and London, and gathered many cultural perspectives. But she has also run up against hurdles.
She knows better than most how hard it is to break into the rarefied world of haute couture, a tightly-controlled discipline of making outfits to a rigid protocol.
Hand-stitched, and hand fitted to clients, each outfit can take several weeks to complete and sell for hugh sums.
It's a small club of designers of the likes of Karl Lagerfeld and John Galliano whose outfits clothe the rich and famous, and have earned them hero status and a cult following from fashionistas the world over.
But for young designers trying to get a step up onto the podiums, it can be a tough battle overcoming such snobbery. Something Angsana knows to her cost.
She arrived in Paris from London and rented a studio with other young designers. But despite three successful men's ready-to-wear collections, she still felt an outsider. In one particularly bruising comment, a critic likened her collection to a "Christmas Tree."
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Indonesian designer rises like phoenix on Paris catwalks
PARIS (AFP): As a teenager, Indonesian designer Farah Angsana spent hours happily creating dresses for her sister and mother.This week she was showing off her sophisticated, sexy gowns in Paris, the hallowed home of haute couture.
The 34-year-old has come a long way from Medan, the capital city of North Sumatra, where she was born. And the journey has not always been easy.
On Monday she was one of only two newcomers invited to take part in the packed unofficial "off" calendar organized alongside Paris haute couture week, with a collection she styled as her "come-back" onto the international scene.
"I have always loved fashion. Fashion is my passion, but it is not my life. I used to think when I was young that fashion was my life. Then I started to realize it's only my work," she toldAFP, reflecting on her reasons for an absence of two-and-a-half years.
Her new women's haute couture collection of glamorous, sensual evening wear was inspired by the story of the Japanese geisha, currently very "a la mode" with the launch of US director StevenSpielberg's film of "Memoirs of a Geisha".
But it was also drawn from the myth of the phoenix, the golden bird constantly reborn out of fire, and which for Angsana has become a metaphor of her life.
"It's a collection inspired basically by myself as a person. I have been reborn," she said.
"I'm coming back. I've done this and I've done that, and I'm now coming back. I'm just like a bird flying here and flying there. But I don't want to be just a bird, so I decided to be a phoenix."
Angsana, a graduate of the London College of Fashion, has journeyed far, having been educated in the US and London, and gathered many cultural perspectives. But she has also run up against hurdles.
She knows better than most how hard it is to break into the rarefied world of haute couture, a tightly-controlled discipline of making outfits to a rigid protocol.
Hand-stitched, and hand fitted to clients, each outfit can take several weeks to complete and sell for hugh sums.
It's a small club of designers of the likes of Karl Lagerfeld and John Galliano whose outfits clothe the rich and famous, and have earned them hero status and a cult following from fashionistas the world over.
But for young designers trying to get a step up onto the podiums, it can be a tough battle overcoming such snobbery. Something Angsana knows to her cost.
She arrived in Paris from London and rented a studio with other young designers. But despite three successful men's ready-to-wear collections, she still felt an outsider. In one particularly bruising comment, a critic likened her collection to a "Christmas Tree."