Indonesia’s Fashion Champion ready for the UK!

Deli Makmur Rachman was crowned Indonesia’s next IYCEY Champion during the colourful Indonesian Fashion Festival at the Blitzmegaplex, Saturday night.

The 33 year old entrepreneur will represent the country in the upcoming IYCEY Fashion Award in the UK in February 2008. It’s the last in the series organised this year by British Council, which also included awards for the music, design and film sectors.

The awards –aimed at identifying creative entrepreneurs from emerging countries and facilitating partnerships with the UK-- has since created a truly emerging network of creative entrepreneurs in Indonesia, with the UK and across the world.

Femina media group and its flagship publication Dewi hosted the event as part of their big two-day 35th anniversary. The celebration also featured a runway show of UK fashion designs.

“This award is exactly in line with our own mission and just what we need now to further develop Indonesia’s creative industries,” said Dewi’s Chief-Editor, Ni Luh Sekar.

Vice-President Svida Alisyahbana and BC Programme Director Margaret Jack jointly announced to the media and hundreds of Indonesia’s creative industries guests.

Deli left his high-paying job at a well-known international advertising agency in 2005 to set up his own Fame74, the only communication agency in the country today focusing on the promotion of fashion and lifestyle.

He has since organised some of the biggest and most beautiful shows in the country, including Oscar Lawalata’s “The Last Concubine” and “Darkroom of the Maharaja”.

He successfully engaged various non-fashion industries to provide financial support to the sector –from Mercedes to MasterCard and Nokia. Fame74 also recently published the “Jakarta Fashion Minute 07/08” to promote Indonesian fashion abroad.

The two panel jury nonetheless took several days and hours to arrive at their decision with Deli facing tough competition especially from Fiki Chakra, owner and director of Airplane Systm Clothing Company.

A first panel of juries consisting of Ni Luh Sekar and fashion critic Samuel Mulia shortlisted applications from Indonesian fashion entrepreneurs working in Medan, Jakarta, Bandung, Yogyakarta, Surabaya, Bali, Makassar and even from as far as Singapore.

The resulting ten finalists –some as young as 25-- reflected the breadth of creativity mixed with strong grass-root social movement that is typical of Indonesia.

They range from award-winning haute-couture designers to pioneers of street-wear outlets, from traditional batik-maker to contemporary jewellery designer, and even included one young fashion maverick that got her first break through the British Council in 2002.  

A second panel of equally high-profile juries --Bina Nusantara University School of Entrepreneurship’s Wayah Wiroto, Dewi’s Editor-at-large Hidayat Jati, and UK Trade & Investment’s Annetly Nabito-- then had the difficult task of choosing the winner based on the candidates’ business acumen, entrepreneurship skills, and creative and social vision.

“They are creative, courageous, and above all demonstrated a strong social commitment to their communities. Some are hugely successful in their businesses we happily found out,” commented Hidayat Jati.

Deli now follows in the footsteps of Yoris Sebastian (music, 2006), Ridwan Kamil (design, 2006), Leo Rustandi (music, 2007), Gustaff Iskandar (design, 2007) and Wahyu Aditya (film, 2007) as Indonesia’s network of creative champions engaging with the UK.

Along with other fashion entrepreneurs from Bangladesh, Ghana, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Lebanon, Mexico, Pakistan, and Srilanka he will go on a 14-day tour of the UK’s fashion industry, participate in a workshop by eminent designer Sir Paul Smith, and compete for the £ 7,500 grand prize.