The British Council, Fenwick of Bond Street and Centre for Fashion Enterprise at London College of Fashion, University of the Arts London (LCF) have announced that, from 18 April to 3 May, the windows of Fenwick department store on London’s Bond Street will showcase brand new contemporary collections by five emerging fashion designers from Indonesia. A Fenwick edit of the collections will also be available to buy in an exclusive pop up shop in the store, which will run from 18 April to 18 May. It will be the first time that a collective of Indonesian fashion brands have been under one roof and available to buy on the UK high street.
The announcement comes with the increasing international success of the Indonesian fashion industry, as the Indonesian government champions young designers and the domestic garment trade. The window display and pop up shop will give the London public a further chance to view and now buy clothes from some of the most exciting and yet to be discovered fashion designers working in Indonesia today.
The backdrop to both the window display and pop up shop will be designed by two students from the BA (Hons) Fashion Visual Merchandising and Branding course at London College of Fashion, UAL: Aysen Asova and Elena Sanniti. Students at LCF were asked by Fenwick of Bond Street and the British Council to respond to a brief that outlined the importance of creating an eye-catching and elegant display, while reflecting the artistic and creative content and effectively showcasing the work of the Indonesian designers.
The Indonesian designers participating in the pop-up Shop are:
• Toton
• Major Minor
• Peggy Hartanto
• By Velvet
• Sean & Sheila
The designers are all alumni of the Indonesia Fashion Forward programme (IFF), an incubator programme for young talent initiated by the British Council in partnership with Centre for Fashion Enterprise, Jakarta Fashion Week and the Creative Economy Agency of Indonesia. The programme fosters innovation, sustainability and creative exchange between the UK and Indonesia and has been building skills and capacity through fashion and business workshops in the Indonesian fashion industry for the last four years, using expertise from London College of Fashion, UAL’s Centre for Fashion Enterprise.
Since 2012, the British Council have supported the programme annually through creative projects and showcases, creating opportunities for British and Indonesian fashion professionals to collaborate. The most recent of these has been the success of the Indonesian entry at the British Council and the British Fashion Council’s International Fashion Showcase, held at Somerset House in February 2016.
Sally Goggin, British Council Country Director Indonesia, said “We are very excited in supporting this showcase of Indonesian Designers. Fashion has been one of our most successful collaborative programme between Indonesia and UK, now our ambition is to extend that the collaboration further in the Creative Sector, through our 3 year programme UK/ID season of festivities encouraging dialogue and creative partnership between the two countries.”
Professor Frances Corner OBE, Head of London College of Fashion, UAL, said, “Offering support and exposure to these Indonesian designers whilst providing our Visual Merchandising students the opportunity to create windows for Fenwick’s historic store is incredibly exciting. Championing global talent is what Centre for Fashion Enterprise at London College of Fashion, UAL is all about and we are so happy to part of this inspiring collaboration.”