Jakarta 25: Life-inspired Fashion Survival Kit

Let’s get this straight first: Jakarta is not Milan. No matter how soap opera celebs or dangdut stars look like on TV, Jakarta is one harsh and hectic city that eventually makes the strongest out of its citizens — also their fashionwear. That said, the key is to shop for fashion that is light and practical, durable and fashionably sensible at the same time. The main ingredients consisted of: pair of jeans, body-fitted t-shirts, knee-length dress, collar shirts, pencil pants, and a black jacket along with your choice of accessories.

The fashion collage set you see above, Jakarta 25, is adapted from real life, and the clothing apparels in the illustration are ones I’d normally be wearing for day-to-day routines. They’re mixed and matched pieces and you can easily break them part, crossing one to the other. The collage illustration itself is generated by Polyvore, Web 2.0 tool for fashion and a great help in visualizing your shopping list, making sure you’ve chosen all the right mix-and-matches. As to my personal style, I prefer Holly Golightly-inspired androgyny fashion and mainly classics that will go timeless. For colors, I prefer pale pastels, earthy and nude tones, or any in the monochromatic palette; colors that can also work as camouflage while hustling and bustling in Jakarta’s streets. However you could go for more variety of patterns and colours, maybe something vintage, ethnic or floral. Feel free to experiment and be uniquely you, afterall, that’s what urban fashion is all about.

First pair in the collage is obviously for domestic part in our lives, a loose fitted tee plus lounge pants or shorts. Second one might seemed like the lamest one in the list – yes, it has black leggings. Actually black leggings go really nicely with just about any mid-length tops, e.g. mini chiffon dress like one in the collage, t-shirt dress or perhaps a silk kimono dress. Anyways, this two-piece combination is excellent for various social activities or Friday night-outs in smart casual settings. Wear them with beaded sandals or gladiators, wedges or peep toe shoes. Just make sure your footwear is light, slim and doesn’t weigh down your legs. Mind you though, I do not wear leggings under a denim mini skirt.

The third mix set is a personal favourite. This goes back from the days I was still working in several companies as staff and freelancer. I had a schedule so tight, I’d even have to shower in the office or at a friend’s place nearby, and went home solely for my less-than-8-hours sleep. If such get-up-and-go lifestyle is yours also, then this three-piece combination is for you, it consists of three basic items: a white tee, black jacket, and a pair of jeans. I could wear it from morning meetings to lunch hours to the evenings downtown. How to do it? Accessorize, accessorize, accessorize, that’s how. For instance, at noon time wear a combination of colourful bead necklaces with the white tee. By the time for dinner, put on the black jacket and switch the beads with a pearl necklace and voila, you’ve teleported yourself from Ibiza to New York City in matter of minutes.

One of the companies I worked for is an event organiser and wearing black jackets were compulsory back then, however you could replace the jacket with a knitted cardigan or a velvet bolero. One particular fashion item that also suits black jackets nicely is semi-formal dresses, such as the pastel pink one in the collage. I am not too keen on too much dramatic artsy prints for evening wear, I’d rather have nude tones or pale pastels. Even if pastels and greys are too dull for your evenings, add some sparkle here and there. Try combining your outfit with a vintage diamond brooch, strings of pearls or a metallic leather clutch, you might also want to apply bronzer powder on your open shoulder and hands. However, unless you’re Lindsay Lohan or Inul Daratista, I wouldn’t advice wearing glittery metallic silver from top to toe.

The last one is supposed to be the ‘power suit’. It’s the mix we normally wear at work, for client presentation, a professional seminar and so forth. By the way, there’s this common fashion cliché on female office suits: it’s supposed to be a pair of a tight blazer with broad shoulder pads plus butt-grasping mini skirt using the same taffy pastel coloured fabric. It’s so common, it seems like all female workers in the city has the same tailor down at Pasar Rumput or at Sunan Giri. Exterminate those Terminator shoulder pads and go for this style instead. If you’re a corporate 25er, I reckon you’re the junior-something heading for the managerial level. If you are, then this style would nicely dress you up for the success; it’s not too rigid, it’s not too dull but it still express the attitude of a neat, determined professional. It also goes well for hours in dry air conditioned rooms also for outdoor activities, such as when getting yourself stuck in the traffic jam. Just as the third one, this three-piece combination makes the perfect formula for everyday flexibility.

As to selecting make-ups, choose one essential colour, then find the gradation of that color. Get both the matte and glossy one to be used for different occassions without having to experiment on too much colors. Carry along lots of hair bands for yourself also for your friends just in case of emergency. Knowing Jakarta’s weather temp, using perfumes, body sprays or just deodorants is definitely a must. Carry baby wet tissues and body talc if your body tends to sweat excessively. As for bags, I prefer shoulder bags both big and small. Leather must be the best fabric for bags, be it real or synthetic. It’s strong, stylish and it’s rainproof. Bear in mind though that rainproof doesn’t mean it’s waterproof. Laptop bags are also essential for the constantly mobile 25ers.

Since most items in Polyvore’s database inevitably become imported-branded-stuffs once they get in the city, you must thought that these fashion pieces would cost a fortune. Not entirely true. There are countless shopping spots for reasonably affordable fashion goods, for instance: ITC stores — bless them, factory outlets, also locally established ones such as distros and house boutiques. For accessories and bags, find local stores that offer products from Bali, Yogyakarta or Bandung, they have massive collection from fresh water pearls to silver bracelets, from silk batik to rattan bags. Basically, if you have the knowledge, the budget, fashion instinct and perhaps adequate negotiating skills, you could afford clothes that could make you look like a million. As I said earlier, you could go for more variety of patterns, fun colors and latest trendy tops, but before you spend your extra money on them, shop for the basics with neutral colours first.

Lastly, it would be wise to remind ourselves that vanity has aways been the greatest obstacle in finding beauty. Even if Jakarta is not Milan, Jakarta could be as vain as any other metropolitan cities in the world. In clubs and the malls’ imaginary runways, we often find 17 year old girls, wearing heavy make-ups and dressing up like adults they see on TV or magazines. Knowing how easily the young ones imitate their grown-ups, so set a good example, stop teaching them to dress like a tranny on the loose. Being beautiful, being both active and attractive, doesn’t mean that one have to be shallow and superficial, on contrary, the most luxurious thing in life is being able to appreciate luxury itself — especially one that goes deeper than skin. Yadda yadda.

Good luck and always live your life to the fullest!

PS’: Check also what’s inside Rima Fauzi’s bag, here!
PS”: Do you know that you can order high-end batik from me and LilyOfTheValley? Yes, you can. I, apparently, forgot to mention it on this blog. We’ll post some pix soon enough.

Image is taken from here. Article is requested by LilyOfTheValley. Merci!

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