Scratches on the Line.: Walk, Walk, Indonesian Fashion, Baby

Toward the end of last February I had the opportunity of being one of the hundreds of volunteers recruited to work on the first ever Indonesia Fashion Week! Yes, it's been a while since the actual event but I just didn't have the chance to write the details up on here until now.

The Week took place for four days, from Feb. 23-26 at the the Jakarta Convention Center. The Fashion Week included a range of activities besides the actual fashion shows, such as an all-day exhibition, talk shows, and seminars. Every activity ,of course, centered around the topic of fashion. There were also not only one but two show arenas, the main one being held in the Plenary Hall (usually showing the bigger, more established couture Indonesian designers) and the other show venue at the Assembly Hall. Both held shows simultaneously.

At first I felt it was a shame that I didn't get to work on the fashion shows as the backstage crew, where most volunteers ended up being runners, which basically helped the run of the shows when they were showing. I got tossed to the Lobby Division, where the other activities were being handled and ended up as Liaison Officer for the fashion seminars. But it turns out we got a better bargain than those who actually ended up backstage because they had more tedious work, longer hours, and less time to enjoy the event.

I did end up helping out the entrance to the Assembly Hall fashion shows whenever we weren't handling anything and had extra hands to help out other areas, so I was able to go backstage, sneak in and out of the stage area whenever I pleased (for the event's security reasons, of course, ahem) and see the collections. Aside from that, though, I would never want to do that part of the job again. EVER.

Do you know what it's like when you try to deny access to a sassy, rude, gay man who then tries taking a picture of your face because he wanted to file a complaint to the higher authorities above you? Or to a possy of the designer's socialite friends running late and one of them is a middle-aged woman half your size who tries to barge into the venue through any entrance she can get passed? Or to a white expatriate wanting to get in and speaking perfect English, then suddenly whispering your native language while trying to negotiate the "right price" for an invite in? It's not fun. It was interesting, though, to see how these supposedly "classy people" get in a fit and start acting like hicks just because they weren't allowed in once the show had already started - even with an invite in hand. There were insults thrown, even tears shed! I think now I know what it feels like to be a club bouncer, only times a thousand.

On a lighter note, the best parts of having this experience were the new friends and acquaintances I made and how much fun I had getting to work on something different every day. Everyone I met on the job was so cool and easy to get along with. I'm not much of the office hours type and am easily bored, so this job was kind of great. We were also allowed inside onto the tribunes of the last main fashion show every night. It was basically to fill in all the gaps in the room but, hey, when else will I ever get the chance to see haute couture first hand? I'm hoping some day when I'm rich and famous I'll be able to go front row, but in the mean time this seemed like a good compromise.

I could have even watched the Anne Avantie grand finale show if I wanted to because we were still allowed in just like every night before, but I ended up skipping because I was too tired and frozen up (the air conditioning in that building is insane!). I hung out with some of the other crew drinking hot cocoa outside once the show had started. But I have a slight idea of how amazing it was. Before the show, we were free so we got stationed along the passage to the main Plenary Hall's backstage to usher the models in the right direction. Being Anne Avantie and being the last show of the Week, it was a major spectacle. Anne decided to use Indonesian actors and actresses as well as regular models to do her show, so there were reporters and TV crews all over the walk to cover the backstage and do interviews with them. The commotion wasn't for nothing either. I stared at her designs up-close while doing the ushering and they were all amazing. The detailing is incredible. They are fancy and classy without being tacky. No wonder she's made a name for herself.

I brought my beloved DSLR with me every day but didn't really get to play with it a lot because we were so busy with everything going on, which was probably a good thing because I might have ended up broke if I had the time to browse through the clothes being sold at the exhibition. I didn't get as much pictures as I would have liked to but I got a decent amount of shots from the last main shows. I do wish I had some sort of magic mini DSLR camera with me when I saw the Anne designs up-close so I could have gotten some pictures of her divine designs.