A Latent Manifesto
- Sep 19, 2017
- 2 min read
Another term comes to a close!
Time to unwind and unravel my thoughts, as per usual. Soon-to-be BA reporting from Changi Airport.
In a class activity on 20th century fashion, I’ve noticed that the history of fashion has been written by the West. All the ‘global’ trends were set by European designers and American media.
When is it our turn, the East? Asia?
Hong Kong, Shanghai and Tokyo are already juggernauts in the fashion game. Seoul, in my perspective, used the Hallyu wave to promote themselves to the world (GD x Chanel or Taeyang x Fendi to a certain extent).
Indonesia, in my eyes, have such a meticulous preference for beauty. We love to build an image, engage with people, pour utmost creativity into projects, and create gowns straight out of fairytales. And most importantly, we are all social media addicts.
It seems like we have a decent set of ingredients to make Jakarta a fashion capital to compete with Tokyo or Shanghai. What’s stopping us is probably the inherent mess we find ourselves in. We would joke that sometimes, Indonesians just have so much other mess to deal with (be it a SARA* scandals or ugly tiger statues), that we become to distracted to care about development and all.
But maybe it is time to care. I guess this is my manifesto of long-term ambition. To make Jakarta a fashion capital. To be candid with you, I have no idea how to get there. I’ll build a door or road, I guess.
I’ll be ending the post here. Whenever I write about topics close to my heart, I always feel so alive. It’s sort of the feeling you get in concerts, but with a dash of productive feel.
So, I wonder what comes next.
*Abbreviation for Suku, Agama, Ras, Anatomi (Ethnicity, Religion, Race, Anatomy)
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