Earlier this week following a press conference in anticipation of Jakarta Fashion Week, we shared with you what Yosafat Dwi Kurniawan told us he had planned for his S/S ’14 collection that will debut at JFW. We singled Yosafat out because, well, in addition to my being an unabashed fan of his work, he was also selected as one of the designers of the Fashion Forward program; these are the select designers who presented their respective collections at the Buyers’ Room of Paris Fashion Week.
The Buyers’ Room is an important component of the fashion business: this is where designers interact with buyers, merchandisers, retailers, and other industry professionals from all over the world, with the express purpose of making business transactions happen. Designers are always looking for business opportunities that will allow them the freedom to focus on their art; and buyers are always on the lookout for the most fashion-forward designers to please crowds and result in sales. But of all the Indonesians who were sent to Paris through the Fashion Forward program, only one held a runway show, and his name was Tex Saverio.
Not content capturing the attention of Nicola Formichetti and Lady Gaga, Tex’s work will next be available for our collective viewing pleasure on the silver screen, after a dress of his design was selected and tweaked to be worn by Jennifer Lawrence in the next second instalment of the Hunger Games movies. As far as I’m concerned, the dress is more than just wardrobe: it’s practically a supporting character at this point!
The opportunity to appear on the Paris catwalk made it a show of many firsts: technically, it was the premiere of the Tex Saverio Jakarta line, so this was a show that premiered his first collection from his first ready-to-wear collection, and also the first time an Indonesian designer took to one of the stages at Paris Fashion Week. The collection, titled Fantasy Made Reality, does not stray far from the characteristics of Tex’s handiwork: painstaking attention to detail, laser cuts, and high drama. He has managed to distill all these elements into an exclusive ready-to-wear collection that makes his couture numbers so distinctive. Here’s a glimpse of that collection:
