LPTB Susan Budihardjo Hatches Promising New Talent for Indonesia’s Fashion Industry
Jakarta Globe January 19, 2017
JAKARTA, Indonesia: Susan Budihardjo’s School of Fashion, better known as LPTB Susan Budihardjo, is legendary. The school, founded by the senior fashion designer in 1980, has produced some of the country’s best fashion talent. Among its alumni are top Indonesian designers such as Adrian Gan, Denny Wirawan, Didi Budiardjo and Sebastian Gunawan.
Each year, the school celebrates the graduation of its students with a gala fashion show. This year’s show, themed “Cambio,” which is Spanish for “Change,” took place at the Ciputra Artpreneur hall in Kuningan, South Jakarta, on Thursday (19/01).
“We live in a world of great changes these days,” said Susan, who is also the school’s headmistress. “I want the graduates to respond [to the changes] and translate [them] into fashion.”
This year’s show featured the collections of the school’s top 13 graduates. Each graduate presented five looks that represented the main theme.
Their designs are bold and edgy, professing their enthusiasm for the industry. Shapes are challenged and distorted. Colors and patterns clash, inviting us to take a lingering look.
But despite the graduates’ seemingly wild sparks of creativity, the outfits are tastefully made and wearable. Their simple, loose-fitting silhouettes and clever choice of materials would suit the fast-paced lifestyles of today’s young people.
“[The graduates’] collections are very fresh and expressive,” said Taruna K. Kusmayadi, senior adviser to the Indonesia Fashion Chamber, after seeing the fashion show. “There’s an element of surprise in each collection, which is great and creative. I believe they have a promising future in Indonesia’s fashion industry.”
In addition to the graduates’ collections, the show also presented Acakacak’s spring/summer 2017 collection.
Acakacak is the school’s ready-to-wear fashion brand, which is designed and managed by some of its fresh alumni.
Acakacak’s new collection consists of 36 daily and office wear for men and women, which are made with an ingenious interplay of asymmetric hemlines, boxy silhouettes and unique combination of colors.
Unusual embellishments of metallic eyelets, geometric patches and plastic buckles elevate this collection to a new level of chic.
The collection will be available at Acakacak’s store in Bali within a couple of weeks.
Acakacak also plans to open its own webstore very soon.
“We’re hoping to recruit some of the new graduates into Acakacak, so that they can hone their skills and get some work experience before starting their own labels,” Susan said.
It seems that care and attention for its students and alumni are the keys to LPTB Susan Budihardjo’s success over nearly four decades.
“I can’t say we’re successful yet,” the headmistress said, with a laugh. “But we’ll keep improving ourselves and updating the skills and knowledge of our teachers.”
“And one thing is sure; we won’t be outdone by all the international [fashion] schools [in Indonesia] in anything,” she said.
LPTB Susan Budihardjo currently operates four schools – in Jakarta, Semarang (Central Java), Surabaya (East Java) and Bali.
ASEAN Digest 
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