Ghea, 30 Years in Fashion

Consistently and successfully continuing to work for 30 years is a remarkable achievement for any designer. Since 1980, ready to wear veteran Ghea Panggabean has been drawing inspiration from the traditional fabrics and motifs from various parts of Indonesia. Most famously she adopted the motif of jumputan (a kind of tie-dye) of South Sumatra. Ghea is also clearly and consistently influenced by the bohemian popular culture of the late 1960’s until the late 1970’s, especially rock and roll music. She also draws heavily from her extensive travels.

The show was opened powerfully with a video recording of her old friend industrialist cum rocker Setiawan Djody and his band mates who blasted out a cover of Led Zeppelin’s “Kashmir”, leading the entrance of stunning models in full hippie-ethnic regalia. Hypnotic multi media and carefully selected background music — as well as the clothes of course — created an almost perfect recreation of the Age of Aquarius into the venue of the Jakarta Fashion Week. The crowd absolutely loved it even though many of them had probably seen such images before. Ghea’s signature was unmistakable and never appeared stronger: modernized traditional fabrics mixed with bohemian styling and updated with modern silhouette.

Indonesian supermodels of the last the three decades participated in the show, drawing applauses from Ghea’s fans who packed the hall. Organizers of the event admitted that Ghea’s show was the fastest to run out of invitations, showing Ghea’s grip over the Indonesian fashion market. Ghea’s current muses, her twin daughters and her grandchild also joined the finale, walking the runaway with their mother. Ghea, who was clearly moved by the occasion, stopped spontaneously on the runaway to hug her parents. It was a powerful and moving moment in the entire Jakarta Fashion Week so far.