113 | SOFT MASCULINITY

Lately, I've been questioning how versatile menswear collection could be. Because in how I see lately, menswear collection here in Jakarta is quite far from our expectation; for some peoples, I mean.

I'd really like to wear something rare like what Yohji Yamamoto, Rick Owens and Boris Bidjan Saberi presented on their runway shows. And for some of boys here, they started to buy masculine womenswear to fulfil their personal style.

Left Blazer: Aesthetic Pleasure Wide pants: I.K.Y.K Sandals: Aesthetic Pleasure

Right Leather snapback: Nikicio Modified white shirt: I.K.Y.K Pants: Nikicio

I've been watching for some local womenswear labels that is quite possible for boys to wear. Aesthetic Pleasure, this brand stole my attention with their sharp cut and clean colours. IKYK also has great wide pants that is unisex enough so I think I'd wear this kind of stuff.

Nikicio, one of my all time favourite brand presented pretty much of unisex items on their collections. The muscle tank, unique cut pants that fits both men & women, and the slippers as well. It gets better to complete the look with IKYK modified white shirt that looked pretty masculine for some boys to wear.

111 | PARIS MENS FASHION WEEK - SPRING/SUMMER 2015

I can be really really subjective when it comes to Paris Fashion Week. Most of my favourite designers there; Yohji Yamamoto, Rick Owens, Juun J, Damir Doma, Alexander Wang, everything. For some of the audiences, Paris is getting bored by having its own style but for me, and next summer is, it's all refreshed.

There are too many too lists about my favourite designers on the city. It's plenty. But let me personally curate these looks based in how they pull their personal aesthetics and how I pull my personal taste. Paris next summer would be about unusual silhouette and casual laid back looks in my eyes. Here I go.

AND YES, AGAIN. Juun J rocked the runway to the maximum level for me ! It's an A game ! I can't stop watching his show on YouTube like, really. Look at those alienatic silhouette he did in every single pieces of his collections. It's a true surreal collections again. Those oversized items are everything !

I had lots of visual orgasm when the finale show and all the models went out with oversized shirt; Juun J's signature items with tons of printed handwritten typography combined with monochromatic line arts which is totally, totally soooooo my taste. I mean like, really ? He really wants me to buy one of the items. For sure.

My interest in Damir Doma has been increased once again with his latest collection. Loose shirt with wide turtle neck, oversized short with unique silhouette. Those are things I've lost in some of his past collections but now he's back. And I mean with those easy look and sharp cut, I wish I could get that loose shirt. The black one.

From a concept of a sleepwear, Christophe Lemaire went with another minimalism execution. Lots of pockets in white jacket creates a pretty voluminous piece, though. What else ? Lots of black, very casual, looking really light as well. And the pants' cut is something to watch because it's kinda unique, in my opinion.

Yohji-san. His works are more like lists of masterpieces. Something that I wish I would wear on my daily basis, if only I'm a fashion daredevil in the city of Jakarta. He never leave his personal story and put his Japanese heritage in each pieces he did.

Long haired models, tied up handkerchief on head, oversized buttoned up shirt and couple of espadrilles. It's something very Yohji Yamamoto. Something authentic that I don't know what to call, and I'm sure that I can't find it in another Asian designers.

Been a fan of Rick Owens in lots of seasons but next season is going to be a color explosion for Rick Owens. He did lots of colours. Yes, it is colourful-- in Rick Owens way. And somehow I can see that he's still getting really gothic even with colours other than achromatic palettes, though.

Some of the models down with fully painted body. It gets creepier, I could say. But the items he did are still great and again, he did another collaboration with Adidas. Just like the thing he did past seasons.

109 | MILAN MENS FASHION WEEK - SPRING/SUMMER 2015

Let's start with the calmest color; white. Neil Barrett did lots of whites onto his collections and still doing it repetitively for next summer. White varsity jacket, white pants, white boots, white hoodies, everything's all white. Seems like white is Neil Barrett's signature colour and he's undeniably good doing it.

Versace did white in richer way by doing it together with some gold bling-blings on several models. See through shirt, white pants with a touch of floral line arts pattern gives an emphasis touch on its look. Also, showing more skin is always so Donatella by doing a Greek God look in several items from the collection.

There are lots of beige in Salvatore Ferragamo. Mixed with short shorts and shoes in beige palettes. Along with Ports 1961, a classic sartorial look is also presented in beige colours with different tone for the footwear. A tricky execution, though. But it kinda attracts the attention pretty good.

Calvin Klein Collection by Italo Zuccheli. I personally see it more like, I've seen this kind of collections before but in a better one. He did minor colors like yellow and white as an accent for the whole look. It's pretty daring to see a light coloured sneakers, though. Pretty risky for some minor reasons but it's aesthetically good.

It's always good to see lots of casual looks like what we could see both in Gucci and Canali. Hat, cardigan and loafers are a good combinations for a total laid back modern preppy look. Meanwhile a simple white shirt and another light coloured beige pants are looking so casual along with the sling bag as Gucci did.

Meanwhile, Bottega Veneta did a quite feminine touch onto his latest collections. Wide neck t-shirt, cardigan, mens legging with espadrilles. It kinda reminds me a bit about a classic sailors in espadrilles but when it comes into the top looks, yes it's pretty feminine-- or it's because the models' effect, I can't say.

As a fan of wide legged pants, seeing lots of fashion house doing loose pants is pretty refreshing. Iceberg did the loose pants with oversized shirt & gladiators. Meanwhile Giorgio Armani went down with a bit more business look with those sleek blazers and tote bags.

Etro went with graphic loose pants; like florals and light chocolate stripes. Another casual classy look together with authentic Italian blazers. Also with Ermenegildo Zegna by doing a little bit different. A little bit more fabrics and light weight coat with the whole loose pants. Very comfortable.

Another black & whites for next spring in Italy and those stripes are gonna be there as well. Vertical stripes are on the top in several items at Emporio Armani. From bikers jacket into hooded shirt into coat into sweat shirt. Items are different but the stripes creates a pretty clean red string on the collection.

And what happened to Gucci is, they did major horizontal patterns on the collections like pants, blazers, shirts and suits. And, the sling bag seems the next "it" thing for Gucci because there are spreading in lots of the models' back.

When it comes to Etro, in how they pick their models, I can put my thumbs up because seeing pretty much of mature models walking down on the runway, I kinda understand that Etro is getting pretty segmented with mature audiences. But the question is, how well the mature audiences could rock these prints ?

Dsquared2 is getting less drama & bling blings by sending the models with these colourful camouflage prints in pink, purple, yellow and neon green. Pretty notable in the middle of the beach, I could say. And oh, those sandals & shades are quite fierce to avoid the sun & sands, though.

Antonio Marras goes to World Cup themed collections by doing lots of face prints onto the collections. Classic greens, classic colour mood, line arts. It kinda reminds me of Christopher Kane. But this one is more colourful.

Touch of 80s are also on the top in Dsquared2. Handwriting typographic prints in black over the neon green pants are beyond eye catching. It happened as well with the pink coats as well. So many classic colours. Keith Haring & Andy Warhol are also printed on the collections.

And so, these dynamic duo Domenico Dolce & Stefano Gabbana has been way innovative since 2010 or 2011 or I forgot. How they did the menswear, how the concept went really well along each items, everything. And I think they stole the spotlight from the fashion week by taking Spanish Matador into the next level.

We've seen lots of three quarter length shirt; my personal definition of what Dolce & Gabbana is, and here it's there again. In a printed bull with some Victorian touch, Baroque-Rococo. And again, it's very Dolce & Gabbana. The printed suit is looking really good. One thing I noticed about them is their sharp tailoring in each suits.

Prada looked pretty refreshing as well. They went down with an innovative thing called stitched lines where we could see in most of the looks. It is actually a minor thing for me but the whole lines are pretty bold--

so it's getting visible, and I don't know why I see this very unique. Also, two toned blazers are unique and the sandals. Ah ! Sandals seems everywhere !

108 | KOTA TUA CREATIVE FESTIVAL 2014

It's 487th birthday of Jakarta ! Getting older and hopefully, getting better. So, I spent the night by visiting this very cool event called Kota Tua Creative Festival 2014, located at Kota Tua, West Jakarta. There are stage performance, bazaar, exhibition and talkshow as well.

But because me and my partner in crime Stephanie Tanata went there during night, things changed a lot visually. I mean, look how they transform Kota Tua into a very interesting place to visit. Look at those diamond-shaped plastic paper, containing lots of hopes for Jakarta.

OKAY SO, THIS IS THE THING. I never ever done any kind of streetstyle post-- well, a stranger streetstyle post because I'm a shy person when it comes to stranger. But this young men named Kina makes me wanted to photograph his "unusual" style (for Jakartans). I met him on the Art Exhibition at Kantor Pos Indonesia, which is also the part of the whole event as well.

What can I say, his style is very daring and visually looking really good with those draped shirt from Nikicio and (X)S.M.L jodhpur pantes. And also, he gives me hope because there is still a person who would wear this kind of art everywhere because personally, I'm a kind of person that kind think what others think so, I still able to express how I dress about 50% but now .. Oh well this young men is just got great style so I decided that I need to post his style onto this post :D

And talking about the art exhibition, it was pretty good art exhibition. There are lots of art mediums, concepts with various executions. My favourite were "Liar" by Melati Suryodarmo"; that hanging bed with perforated letters "LIAR" on its surface. I don't know but it took me more time to read the art explanation on the wall and I'm just, there's a weird feeling when I see her work there. It is personally deep.

And at the end, Jakarta needs to dig more of its creativity side because if we're talking about traffic jam, flood and the other negative issues, it is happened to be here at this city. We've seen all, I'm pretty sure about that. But when it comes to its artistic side, there could be lots of invisible stuff that we might not see; and we're willing to see it. Happy birthday, Jakarta.

107 | LONDON COLLECTIONS: MEN - SPRING/SUMMER 2015

As I heard about the London Collections: Men (LCM) Spring/Summer 2015, I wasn't that excited to see the runway pictures because London is very predictable couple seasons back by bringing floral prints to the runway. But things happened when I accidentally tracked down the show on Instagram.

Because FINALLY there are less floral prints for Spring/Summer ! If I could say, lists of designers might learned something from past seasons because the audiences are getting pretty bored with the prints. So what they did for next Spring is still about prints of course, but each designers got their own twists for their collections.

Let's start with Burberry. Christopher Bailey is pretty innovative in couple seasons back by sending down metalic, geometric print woven, even Batik in the past seasons. But now, Bailey did a pretty good exploration by doing denim on the whole collection.

The accesories designs are also improved with those fishing hat look a like, scarves & tote bag combined with handwriting typography & very fresh vibrant colors for Summer like light orange, ochre, pastel green and light red. I seems like Bailey always know the tiny spot for him to get noticed on the whole scene.

We'll be able to see mens skirt next season like; they are still there. KTZ brings down mood of a modern gladiator by doing sleeveless shirt, hand gloves, caps and mens skirt in a masculine cut. And the interesting thing is, KTZ did it in orange and black. It's kinda daring color combination but well, KTZ is being KTZ, though.

Things happened with Sibling by doing another gladiator silhouette. The items are pretty feminine like the feather necklace, mens skirt in light fabrics and somekind of laced tops. It's pretty feminine but it's all worn by some muscular models and they showed lots of skins & abs that makes is still masculine; or I could say it's another daring gender bending concept.

Down with its menswear debut, Jeremy Scott changed the famous label of Moschino into Fauxchino gold typographic prints in black outfits that makes it pretty noticed if you are wearing this in a public place. Jeremy Scott himself sticks with his womenswear aesthetics by doing lots of jewelries, bling blings and things.

Christopher Shannon is trying to get the attention couple seasons back. And the way he execute his latest collection is pretty fresh. He's doing a type as image prints on several items entitled the label itself "Christopher Shannon". And it creates a rustic, daring, rebellious kind of thing.

I noticed this 2 designers did the concept of maximalist prints but with their own design aesthetics. After last season's overexposed florals & laced, Sarah Burton did something really unique for the brand Alexander MQueen by doing an artsy line art prints, considering about the negative space of the whole look as well.

And again for Jeremy Scott, the King of Maximalism; I could say, he put almost like Coca Cola and the other summer drinks into a blazer and pants with obvious Brazillian summer kind of palettes, also with the classic smile icon printed down to several national flags.

These 2 designers has been noticed as the masters of gender bending. For me, J.W. Anderson almost dressed all these skinny male models in womenswear because his design is that feminine to be worn for a men. But if I'm talking about how artsy J.W. Anderson could be, he's the man. It's quite hard to combine the Japanese inspired pattern & a feminine masculine silhouette and he did it smooth and beautiful.

Seeing muscular black male model in one shoulder top and a long straight hair is very rare already. That's what Astrid Andersen did in her previous collection. And this one ? She went with Japanese kimonos, and a keso mawashi-- an apron that is usually used by a sumo wrestler. And fuck yeah, she execute it very well and bring it down to the runway !

Lots of sun in summer and spring of course; so that is why you might need a proper head cover. Designer James Long did hooded sweatshirt in a pretty light fabric for next Summer. Combined with DIY denim shorts look a like, lots of colors, long haired male models; pretty much like hippies in the sixties.

Lee Roach's strong silhouette has been his design DNA from his previous items as well. A monotonic colour in one look; light brown head to toe complete with the hoodie attached on its outerwear. Fresh read, black tiny belt, and a pair of moccasins. It looked like a uniform but he re-create the uniform concept itself into a more ready to wear attire.

No matter how good the prints I've mentioned before, London has came long way with its classic sartorial items. We still able to find these kind of items because these 2 designers Christopher Kane & Lou Dalton did some sartorial experiments in their collections. Like what Lou Dalton doing, a modified long coat with thin line checked pattern combined with a futuristic visor.

Also with Christopher Kane, I can see this one is his simplified version of his past collections. Those line arts are getting simplified on some of its trousers and blazers. Also the graphics are a little bit more minimal on its form, but a little bit twist he did by doing more colourful minor items used as an emphasis at the whole look.

103 | ROBERTO

097 | A to Z OF FASHION PRONOUNCIATION

Officially in love with the recent fashion film from i-D Magazine about how to pronounce every designers' name since some of their names are quite tricky to pronounce. So here is a fashionable guide for how to pronounce the designers' name. Loving the video concept and the casts as well. It's very diverse. Grace Bol, Grace Mahary, Tao Okamoto, Xiao Wen Ju, Alana Zimmer, Armando Cabral and other great models here.

Executive Producer Neil Cooper at Cadence NY Producer Nina Qayyum at Cadence NY Casting Larissa Gunn for PRODn at Art + Commerce Post Production Modern Post Music Tristan Bechet at Cadence NY

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094 | ARTE 2014

Another annual art festival in Jakarta called ARTE Indonesia 2014. Showcasing contemporary art pieces from several local artists around Indonesia. 

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093 | GIANNI VERSACE

Marcus Schenkenberg & Stephanie Seymour for Gianni Versace Fall/Winter 1993

Photographed by Richard Avedon.

084 | CENTRAL SAINT MARTINS 2014

You made me fall in love with your best graduates, dear Central Saint Martins. Japanese designers are always mesmerising. They don't create clothes; they create fabric arts. Yet, since they are too good, they inspired me quite a lot to do some graphic pattern based on their silhouette to fill the negative space in this post.

082 | CASMAD SANURI

Meet Casmad Sanuri. My personal definition of all time high fashion Indonesian male model. Ever.

081 | NEXT WINTER IN NEW YORK ...

Richard Haines for Siki Im is such a perfection. I was freaked out inside when I saw Haines' illustrations appeared on the collection. This is so me--if I could afford it. And Alexander Wang ? 30 years old prodigy. Good music, good casts, good stage, good lighting, good outfits. Everything. Credits: 1, 2, 3

080 | FLOATING FABRIC

LEFT: Dmitry Sholokhov's final collection & print challenge from Project Runway Season 10 RIGHT: Alexander Wang Spring/Summer 2013 Ready-to-wear Similarity in parallel universe. I was thinking that Sholokhov copied Wang's collection at first. But after I researched about their collection's release date, it's different. Sholokhov's was around early 2012 yet Wang's was around September 2012. It's about how everyone could have similar ideas but it's just about how they execute it.

076 | SANDSTORM REFUGEE

Still with my all time obsession in Damir Doma Spring/Summer 2011, I designed my own outfit items, inspired by these items above. And yeah, I got my new sewing machine to prevent me from temporary boredom.

And seriously, it took me like almost forever to made these items. Yet I'll keep practicing, practice makes perfect. What else ? So far, I made the vest, drop crotch shorts and the tubular scarf. 2.5 yards of cotton jersey for all items. And yes, I feels like a refugee. A sandstorm refugee. Well; that's what's on my mind right now. And seriously, pardon me for showing more skin in this post. This is how I act to ignore the crazy society nowadays.

075 | FABIO COSTA

Project Runway fashion designer has never been this fine. Smile and meet Fabio Costa, Brazilian guy who stands on the runner up position at Project Runway season 10. And take a look in how he dress himself; which attracts my eyes more than the other contestants. He covered himself a lot in grey during the show; along with his notable accessories. Braided fabrics, drop crotch shorts, oversized shirt and a turban that makes him even looked like a Southern Dravidian. His signature fashion line Not Equal is actually really good. Modern fashion forward, yet still very quirky; and very Fabio Costa. Love. Credits: 1 | 2 | 3

074 | PARIS FASHION WEEK F/W 2014

So now, Paris Fashion Week Fall/Winter 2014. I kinda notice a significant change in these 2 designers I recently adore. Yohji Yamamoto has never been this maximalist by doing a lot of prints & patterns. Meanwhile for me, Damir Doma is kinda like back to his own root by doing more monochromatic and plain silhouette. I don't know but Doma did a bit better in clean aesthetics. No surprise from Rick Owens' show; I mean a literal surprise like what he did by sending real peoples & hanging musicians on the runway.

He added colours at his collections; a (dark) maroon. And I just love that thing, a handkerchief look-a-like that tied up to the model's neck. Then a colour combination I like-- black, white and one additional colour; which I can see it in Alexander Wang that always brings a minimalist statement, very Alexander Wang. And also, how Riccardo Tisci mixed up a total different stuff into a collection; Bauhaus lines & his childhood memories in how he loved basketball. A strong lines that decorate a simple white shirt is quite refreshing. Credits: 1 | 2

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073 | MILAN & LONDON FALL/WINTER 2014

Milan and London first. Paris is gonna be the last; since for me, Paris offered an interesting visual twists.

  M I L A N  

You are able to stick at your sartorial style in low temperature weather. Classic masculine, slick hair, suitcases, moccasins. Several stuffs looked quite neat and professionals. Grammy and Oscar kind of look. Not that much happened from its form. Oh well, Vivienne Westwood stick with her London-esque mood. Likey.

Personal selections: • Etro • Ermanno Scervino • John Richmond

  L O N D O N  

This Summer, London offered multiple or even outrageously maximalist prints. So next Fall is about to be a maximal feminism. J.W. Anderson continues like, well .. He is the designer. I can't say I dislike but that is something that I would not wear; those man skirt in skinny silhouette is more into piece of art. What else ? Burberry ? Check my previous posts. Astrid Andersen ? I never imagine an ethnic men got that kind of long straight hair, though.

Personal selections: • Astrid Andersen • Burberry Prorsum • J.W. Anderson

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070 | BLUR

067 | HELLO 2014 !

Jakarta city scape

It started like last year, my passion to attend the 2012 Car Free Night in Bunderan Hotel Indonesia is totally growing. It is actually a new program from the new elected Jakarta Governor, Joko Widodo in how to make Jakarta a better city (Well yeahs, that's what I caught). So he decided to make the public occasion at one of the notable landmark of Jakarta, Bunderan Hotel Indonesia.

Then I asked 2 of my friends Steph & Raslene to join the occasion, and luckily they said yes. So there you go, I got good peoples to go with at the end of the year. And how we spend our last 2013 night ? We went to the cinema and watched 47 Ronin until 11.30 PM. And how we end it was pretty tremendous. It was 11.30 PM and the cinema located at the 8th floor of the plaza near Bunderan HI (Yes, it's Grand Indonesia). The lift was brutally full because everybody wants to go down, go home or whatever. Then we decided to take the anti mainstream way to go down. We walked along the parking lot from 8th floor to Lower Ground floor. 

The chaos isn't stopped yet. I already know it's a public occasion. Everybody in Jakarta can come but I had no idea that it would be that fucking crowded. We even unable to take proper selfies with our tongsis (tongkat narsis; Indonesian, you understand this. Ha !), it was blurry pictures, overlight whatsoever. But luckily the countdown to 2014 went pretty well with a great graphic video mapping at several hotels around Hotel Indonesia.

Tons of peoples sorrounding Bunderan Hotel Indonesia

Welcoming 2014. Year of horse in Chinese zodiac. In Chinese philosophy, a horse portrayed as a very hard working animal. Hopefully, it could reflect to each individual. Hard working in hoping to achieve the best result. And about my personal wishlist in 2014 ? I do have several stuffs to working on it. But in common, I just wish to have another good life, surrounding with good peoples, being able to travel more & having a good health. May you have a good New Year, peoples !

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