Mode as one of the subsectors in the creative economy is the second largest contributor to Indonesia's GDP, a subsector that in its development has undergone a change in definition.
At first, fashion, which was synonymous with just fashion, now has a slightly broader definition, was as a lifestyle in appearance that reflected a self or group identity. For its development, the mode has a scope that includes ready to wear and made to order.
In Indonesia, fashion has undergone quite dynamic and rapid changes, especially since entering the era of the information and creative economy in the 2000s. Outstanding fashion players, from academics, designers, business people to research and development institutions began to emerge. For example, Iwan Tirta, Non Kawilarang, and Peter Sie as pioneers in the fashion industry.
Even in the current generation, who does not know Josephine Komara (Obin) and Anne Avantie. The names of the two fashion players in the field of textile development and kebaya fashion have also spread to foreign worlds.
Its rapid development is also what eventually triggered the emergence of many distribution channels to educational institutions that focus on the fashion industry. Fashion becomes a new potential to dominate the Indonesian economy, even the world.
However, in its development, the fashion industry does not escape intersecting with other industries, especially those included in the creative economy, such as the music industry, film industry, handicraft industry, textile industry, photographic industry, media industry (television, radio, audio, and video), advertising industry, printing and publishing industry, information technology industry, research and development industry to even the culinary industry.
This happens because of the nature of the fashion industry that is able and easy to be absorbed by various groups, anywhere, and anytime to become a dynamic industry.
The development of fashion in Indonesia opened its own business, made fashion shows, and became a famous designer without preparing for the development of its business side. There are still many who think that fashion presentations in the form of fashion shows are solely as entertainment performers, related to the world of entertainment, celebrities, and socialites.
But really the world of fashion is not that simple. Modes have a very wide scope and their management has its own complexities. Starting from raw materials (from the upstream side), fiber processing, becoming textiles, then the final product of fashion, to marketing governance in malls or sales outlets (from the downstream side). The diversity of products ranging from footwear to the ends of hair, certainly has differences in process and consumer share.
Its scope is so wide that it involves more than 4 million Indonesians behind its industry.
The breadth of this scope certainly presents many problems that must be realized and it is impossible to handle in unison.
It needs to be handled one by one and priority to get to the same point. In addition to coordination from across related associations, creative people concerned, as well as partiality, it is necessary to coordinate the government in terms of policies from the aspects of upstream to downstream activities.
For example, regarding Value Added Tax (Directorate General of Taxes) which should have been paid by the producer (association or supplier or designer) in the raw material process (licensing, export, and import), but in practice it is taxed again for the sale of these goods plus margin or commission to Department Stores (mall owner / Department Store) who sells the products of the manufacturer / supplier.
This makes the mark-up that must be added to the selling price higher and automatically reduces the competitiveness of the fashion product.
This is just one of the cases of such a complex fashion industry.
From the picture above, it is necessary to describe its definition and scope in Indonesia. This common point of view can be a basic reference for actors and stakeholders to make an overview of the ecosystem, business models, review potentials, problems and formulate strategic directions and action plans to achieve the goals set.
Fashion Definition
Fashion is a marker of lifestyle changes in one period, which cannot be separated from the development of life history, human culture, and technological advances that are accelerating.
Fashion is something that shows change while opposing past existence and leading to pioneering, not followers (Servewright, 2007:160) 1. Thus, the mode puts forward the understanding of a new one with great zeal continuously.
This phenomenon is a reflection of various events that have been accepted and used as part of social history. According to Carter (1977), as quoted from Zaman (2013), this phenomenon displays various expressions of spirit, presenting a pattern of relentless change of a silhouette appearance.
Mode is constantly looking for updates because of the focus on change. The speed of these changes requires designers to always be creative and able to withstand the pressures of certain situations.
Polhemus and Procter also point out that in Western contemporary societies, the term fashion is often used as a synonym of the terms dressage, style and fashion, while Malcolm Barnard sees fashion as communication. Tracing in the word fashion as a verb is formulated in a sense, peppering oneself with "attention" to the effect.
It means more than just dressing yourself up, but also dressing up and wearing jewelry.
So, although all clothes are called fashion, not all dress-up can be called fashionable. Therefore, fashion and clothing are the most significant ways that can be used in constructing, experiencing and understanding social relations today.
According to Simmel, there are two important social tendencies in shaping fashion, namely the need to converge and the need to be isolated. If one of those tendencies is gone, then fashion will not be formed. Still according to Simmel, the individual must have a desire to be part of something greater and must have a desire to be something detached from that part.
In addition, there is an understanding of the meaning of fashion and fashion according to the origin of the word and tracing changes in meaning, including:
Fashion comes from the Latin, "mode", meaning a generally accepted style in terms of dressing or behaving. The term is also absorbed by the Dutch language, "mode", which refers to the form of the product.
Fashion according to Malcolm was absorbed from the Latin, "factio", which means to make. The original meaning of fashion is an activity that a person does, unlike today which interprets fashion as something that a person wears.
Fashion which is a term from English can mean fashion or clothing (Peter, 1987) and talking about clothing is talking about something very close to the human self, as quoted by Idi Subandi Ibrahim (researcher of media and pop culture in the introduction to Malcolm Barnard's book, fashion and communication, 2007). homas Carlyle says that clothing is a "symbol of the soul". Still according to Idi Subandi Ibrahim:
“clothing is inseparable from the historical development of human life and culture”.
In its development, the term fashion in Indonesia was changed to fashion. But based on the agreement between practitioners, academics and observers of this subsector, the use of the term fashion was changed to fashion. This term of fashion means not only its clothes and equipment, but also the style of dressing or behaving.
Fashion is one of the subsectors in the creative economy and is one of the creative industries that contributes greatly to Indonesia. The term fashion referring to industrial activity has been spelled out in the 2008 Creative Industry Development Plan book, Ministry of Trade as follows.
Creative activities related to the creation of clothing design, the design of footwear and the design of other fashion accessories, the production of fashion clothing and its accessories, the consulting of fashion product lines, as well as the distribution of fashion products.
Based on the development of the concept of fashion, fashion is interpreted as a combination or combination of styles that have a tendency to change and display updates; a choice that is acceptable, favored, and used by the majority of the public; a way to be accepted by the general public as a symbol of expression of a certain identity so as to give confidence in appearance to the wearer; as well as fashion has not only always been about how to dress, imaging or designing fashion, but also the role and meaning of clothing in social action. Style in the sense of fashion is a feature or character of the appearance of a material or other thing that distinguishes it from other types of fashion, while design is something more particular than the current style.
Based on the above understanding and the results of joint opinions between practitioners, observers and academics in the fashion world, fashion can be initiated as follows.
A lifestyle in appearance that reflects self or group identity.
The above mode definitions can be spelled out in several keywords.
- Lifestyle is part of the secondary human needs that can change according to one's times or desires which can be seen from language, habits to how to dress. Fashion can be a medium used to express attitudes and feelings by combining various designs that will determine the values embraced by the individual or group.
- Looking is no longer just a thing seen in dress, but also a style of dress or behavior that is the epitome of identity.
- Self or group identity is a representation of individual or group characteristics that can develop into a culture. More complexly, fashion can act as a stratum of class division, status, occupation and the need for current trends.