I dedicate the following poetry to Lady Gaga who, gradually after the release of “Born This Way“, has been under attack from certain people for her artistry and her belief in defending the rights of LGBT and other different kinds of human being. I composed this poetry as a response to the accusations made to her regarding the message of her 2nd single, “Judas“. Regardless of where Lady Gaga actually stands, in the light of God or behind the presence of Satan, this is where I stand as her Little Monster.

Musing of a Monster

“I just want to dance // until I reach the state of trance // Though I’ll be beyond repentance // I won’t care, I’ll take my chance

My spirit is a solid lance // stands erect with a perfect stance // Mine and yours make our fence // Against evil they’re our defense

Your belief will face resistance // so arm yourself with persistence // In life you need some prudence // so you can live your romance”

I posted the 3 parts of this poetry on my Twitter account, @MrTawakal, on the evening of April 17, 2011. They are the 1st of a series of my Twitter poetry that I entitled #PoeTwit. I hope that Lady Gaga will read this one day, and I hope that she and everyone else that reads it, feel somehow empowered by it.

Thank you for making me dance, Mother Monster.

Taws and Paws up!

- Adhi Putra Tawakal -

One afternoon, we decided that we would have lunch by the beach. It was the Echo Beach, and it was walking distance from the villa. The lunch was nice, I had a good Tuna Salad and tasted other dishes that we ordered. But the lunch wasn’t the best part of the afternoon. I brought my camera to the restaurant, and before our food was served I took some photos around the beach. I snapped some pictures of crabs when I walked up a cliff.

After lunch, I separated myself from my family for a walk down the beach. To my luck, the tide was low and that enabled me to walk further down the beach, stepping on the algaes and the corals. I also explored the bottom of the cliffs where I found something both disgusting and astonishing: sea urchin. I was thrilled that I got to see that creature in person, but I also felt kinda itchy just looking at them.

I was strolling down the beach, walking not above sand but on water and corals, wearing a slippery pair of sandals with both camera and BlackBerry on my hands. The sun was scorching and I had no hat on. I probably had sunscreen on but it really didn’t matter because I was so captivated by the scenery and the experience.

I took lots of photos, I explored all the cliffs, climbed to their top when possible, basically just trying to get lost in this new sensation and make the most out of the few minutes that I had before the tide goes back up or I pass out from the heat. It all paid off, I had one of the best times during that trip and in my entire life. It felt so good to get in touch with and intoxicated by the nature.

Everything that I photographed at the beach—the reef, the cliff, the algae, the beach—it wasn’t as good as what I’ve seen on documentary and on Google, but everything felt so precious. The experience at the beach, and some other encounter with Nature that I had during the time spent in Bali, gave me a whole new appreciation and love for the nature.

I have always cared for nature and green initiatives—I still don’t litter, I use recycled paper when possible, and If I were to purchase a car I would still consider a hybrid (except that something like Toyota Prius is damn expensive in Indonesia)—but after the trip I felt like I finally get why green initiatives mattered.

Maybe a personal experience like what I had is what it takes for others to get on board with living a “greener” life. That is understandable: you can’t value something that is alien to you. Now I’m just glad that I made the decision to walk down the Echo Beach. I’m just glad that I was still that kid who wondered about the nature and the unknown. I just hope that I won’t ever lose that.

- Taws up! -

I guess The Almighty does work in mysterious ways. It’s been about 2 years since the last time I posted anything on this blog (formerly named “Either/Or” or “Speak My Mind” or something else), and now I have a renewed interest in writing on my blog again.

So how did The Almighty work to renew my interest in writing? I think S/He made this happen for that reason: I got a BlackBerry Message from my boss this morning, asking me to come over to Social House where she was spending time with her daughter and some business associates. She did mention something about blog in the BBM, but before I got to her I thought she wanted me to help her with creating blog or whatever professional thing she had regarding her new fashion agency venture.

I sat down and then she revealed that she wanted me to help her tween daughter set up her own blog. I though “OK, cool. It’s not something that I would get paid for, but what’s the cost of doing a small favor like this? Let’s do it!”. Me and her daughter explored the daughter’s WordPress account on her mom’s iPad (I never really touched an iPad before, so it was a new, challenging experience). She was supposed to write something about her school field trip, but we had to set a theme first for her account.

That’s when my interest began to spark. I browsed through all of the themes that WordPress had to offer and thought “hey, this theme is quite nice, that theme looks kinda good”. The visuals really caught me, and it felt so good browsing on iPad. After it all ended (we decided on a theme for the daughter), I felt that need to do it all over again.

I spent the remaining day at the office working on my blog, finding a new theme and basically setting the blog up to look more decent than it was. I was going back and forth between my own interest and what I had to do to keep the salary coming, and as I was doing so I started to realize how I have much to write.

Honestly, the sudden return of interest did distract me from my job. I began to, and still, feel that writing is what I’m supposed to be doing. And if I continue to do so seriously, maybe I’ll be able to make money out of it like many other bloggers do. Who knows?

I don’t know how much I can commit to this blog. I do know that I have materials to write about, time and facility to write them down, so maybe I’ll do better than how I have done for the past 2 years. We’ll see.

- Taws up! -

Marc Jacobs clearly understands that. What he does for Louis Vuitton is never limited within the box. Perhaps there isn’t even such thing as a “Louis Vuitton” box. Jacobs’s constant reinvention for the highly recognizable brand makes it hard for anyone to freeze Louis Vuitton’s characteristics.

What is quintessentially Louis Vuitton? Jetsetters’ luggage and polished head-to-toe look? Jacobs has done much more than that, even to the extreme point where he visited Bikini Bottom and dragged SpongeBob SquarePants to Paris Fashion Week for Spring/Summer 2008. But Jacobs isn’t without principle. In 2005, he did say that he has “pinned down who the Vuitton woman is: She’s someone who loves to dress up.”

 And the primary rule of liking to dress up is to never be afraid of putting on new looks on ourselves. To reinvent means to undergo trial and error. Try everything. Mix them and match them until you get the perfect harmony. Who knows what stunning new look you’ll come up with at the end of every experiment.

Jacobs had probably contemplated that when he finally envisioned what he would offer to the style-hungry, status-obsessed fashionistas around the globe for Spring/Summer 2009. And his intellectual discourse resulted in a collection that got both the stylish girls and cold critics in ecstasy. After undergoing a decline in satisfaction and praise last Winter, his Louis Vuitton Spring/Summer 2009 collection propelled Jacobs to the top of his game.

As if unaffected by the depressing newspaper headlines, the models came out parading playful mini-skirts, showing off some seductive legs with their confident walk. Even if your legs aren’t as skinny as theirs, the head-turning shoes would still make you center of attention. The platform-sandals came in multiple straps, feathers, and plastic panels forming African faces that cover the wearer’s insteps. If those aren’t stunning enough, they also come in bright, multi-tone of colors.

Above the half-naked lower part of the body, the models were equipped with padded-shoulder jackets covering some see-through tops. Some got their waists cinched with obis, and not one of them came out without drop-earrings and/or plunging tribal necklaces that are, oh yes, colorful and chunky as a surefire way to make some serious statements.

Beside the mini-skirts, there were also some peek-a-boos going on the tops. Some were partially, in triangular forms, see-through on the back. Even the covered front could expose your tits under a certain intensity of light, due to its thin layer of fabric. The finale was an orange (or a hue close to it) mini-dress crunched asymmetrically, with plunging neckline on the front and strappy back that reveals much skin. Floor-sweeping dresses were never Jacobs’s playground, and this finale mini-dress, worn by Sigrid Agren, simply marks Jacobs’s territory.

The show was successful and the reviews were unanimously positive, but will the selling-floor have the same fate? LVMH won’t take “No” for an answer, not when its golden boy managed to bring the best in the midst of critical times. And to advertise the clothes, there’s only one artist who could keep up with and tame this wildly creative collection: Madonna.

About why Madge was selected, Jacobs said that he “… wanted the campaign to be very bold, very sensual and very atmospheric. To carry off all these references and all this sophistication, we needed the ultimate performer – and for me, that is Madonna”.
              
At first I thought Madge wasn’t quite right for the part. But then I figured who else could effortlessly pull off various colors in every bit of shape and much embellishment than the Material Girl herself? Her personality, chains of controversy, and history of tireless reinvention suit this collection with the perfect pitch of synergy (or is it the collection that suits her?).

Take a close inspection at the advertisements. Tribal inspired clothes and accessories, worn by a modern mega-artist that constantly changes, at a bar that seems classic and very European. Somehow, in a way that perhaps only a genius can track, the pieces fit together. Nothing seems incoherent or out of context. And the willingness to dress-up and be youthful and energetic in tough times that the collection and advertisements suggest would surely appeal to everyone.

More than two millennia ago Socrates, via Plato’s Republic, discussed about four cardinal virtues that have “pivotal role in human flourishing” : prudence (practical wisdom), courage, temperance, and justice. Socrates suggested that “a person is prudent when knowledge of how to live (wisdom) informs her reason, courageous when informed reason governs her capacity for wrath, temperate when it also governs her appetites, and just when each part performs its proper task with informed reason in control.”

This Spring, for those of us who have no time or interest to contemplate philosophical ideals, Jacobs have materialized those virtues in something that one is ready to put on without having to worry about headaches (as often occur after philosophical contemplations). The various bits of style in the collection serve our appetites with temperance, and wearing those heavily accessorized looks is simply courageous. The collection is prudent in suggesting us to never lose focus on looking great though squeezed under global crash, and that is doing justice to the flourishing of our soul.

The 21st Century depression is here, but there’s no reason for us to embody it. That’s how Jacobs sums up the Socratic ideals of cardinal virtues in this collection for our current context.

- Adhi Putra Tawakal -

            Laksana kanker, resesi ekonomi tumbuh dengan cepat, semakin kuat dan luas. Department store berteriak dalam kepanikan dan keputus-asaan tatkala para pelanggan (potensial) menjadi kurang sensitif terhadap apa yang baru dalam fesyen dan bahkan kurang sensitif terhadap penampilan mereka sendiri. Orang-orang di kelas bawah dan menengah semakin tak memiliki anggaran untuk jaket, sepatu, atau pun tas ter-“panas”. Yang terpikir saat ini hanyalah bagaimana agar api kompor di rumah tetap menyala.

            Jelas ini masa yang sulit, terutama bagi mereka yang hanya “mengoperasikan mesin”. Namun para kreator dan perancang justru melihat masalah dan kemiskinan sebagai sumber inspirasi untuk membakar kapasitas kreatif mereka. Dengan segera para perancang busana beradaptasi dan menerjemahkan masa yang mencekat ini dalam koleksi-koleksi yang mungkin belum pernah terlihat sebelumnya.

            Saat beberapa perancang lain yang lebih intelektual merepresentasikan visi mereka dalam bentuk yang paling mentah (perempuan yang tampak ganas dalam mantel serba-bisnis di PRADA, misalnya), Frida Giannini di GUCCI memiliki opini lain.

            Koleksi Fall/Winter 2009-nya memiliki edge dan sekian dosis keseriusan di dalamnya. Tak ada yang manis ataupun girly diantara parade leather, sequin, dan mini dress dengan fabric yang flashy dan form-hugging di runway GUCCI. Namun para perempuannya juga tidak terlihat maskulin ataupun kaku. Anda dapat dengan mudah membayangkan mereka berpesta di club, setelah menyingkirkan dokumen dan kontrak kerja saat office hour berakhir.

            Personalitas Giannini, seperti biasa, terasa kuat dalam koleksi ini. Ia masih bermain dengan print, kali ini yang geometris seperti stripes dan lingkaran-lingkaran yang kadang terlihat tidak proporsional, namun ia tidak membiarkannya mendominasi koleksi glam rock cum disko ini. Monokrom dan keseksian terhampar dimana-mana, seolah Tom Ford kembali untuk sejenak. Apa yang membuat Giannini berbeda adalah less skin exposure dan, secara mengejutkan, jumlah gaun malam yang lebih sedikit meski itu selalu merupakan teritori GUCCI (kecuali anda menganggap clubbing lewat tengah malam sebagai “evening occasion”).

            Setelan “Frida”, yang telah hadir sejak Giannini mengambil alih posisi Alessandra Facchinetti sebagai Creative Director GUCCI, juga ada di koleksi ini. Produksinya yang tak berkesudahan sepanjang era Giannini mungkin mulai membuat para kritikus, yang telah menunggu dengan tak sabar untuk sesuatu yang unexpected dan out-of-the-GUCCI-box, bosan. Namun apa yang realistis ditakdirkan untuk bertahan, dan setidaknya setelan “Frida” tersebut dapat dianggap sebagai GUCCI signature yang baru disamping tas-tas dengan handle bambu dan Monogram GG yang kini telah kehilangan daya otentisitasnya setelah banyak dipalsukan. Apa lagi alasan bagi GUCCI untuk tetap menjual setelah tersebut?

            Saya masih percaya bahwa Giannini telah menetapkan formulanya untuk Spring/Summer: print sarat warna dan bentuk yang lady-like. Lihat kembali ke empat koleksi Spring/Summer terakhir dan anda dapat memprediksi hampir secara akurat apa yang akan hadir untuk 2010. Namun prediktabilitas itu seolah tak berlaku saat pakaian harus menebal.

            Di Fall/Winter 2006 ada perempuan disko ’70-an di runway GUCCI, kemudian jetsetters di 2007 dengan tampilan yang sangat clean dan polished. Pada tahun 2008 Giannini membelokkan GUCCI ke arah yang tak terduga, hampir idiosyncratic menuju sebuah versi mewah dari folk dan country. Sekarang ini seolah ia telah turun dari sadel, berkendara dalam sports car berkecepatan tinggi, menuju club paling happening. Jelas bukan sebuah kandang untuk kuda dan kaum hippie. Mungkin Giannini telah menjadwalkan Fall/Winter sebagai saat untuk bermain dengan gagasan lain, tanpa melupakan komersialisme tentunya.

            Betul, setiap orang terhimpit oleh krisis ekonomi, bahkan kaum super-kaya dunia yang konon kedap-resesi hingga derajat tertentu. “Sale” kini adalah pandangan yang biasa dan dinanti, namun tragis untuk luxury industry yang enggan turun dari singgasana eksklusifnya. Lantas bagaimana Giannini menjaga margin GUCCI positif tanpa menggunakan the “S” word? Bersikap realistis, tentu, dan tak pernah melupakan bahwa “luxury” secara literal berarti segala sesuatu yang bercahaya.

            Tepatnya koleksi Fall/Winter 2009 GUCCI adalah itu: tampilan bercahaya, penuh percaya diri yang menempatkan perempuan dalam mood yang seksi. Pesan dari koleksi ini jernih: hanya karena kita hidup di masa yang depresif tidak berarti kita perlu merasa atau, lebih buruk lagi, terlihat depressed. Mengurai berbagai problem dapat dilakukan dengan cara yang menjaga segala sesuatunya fun dan setiap orang dalam mood yang bagus. However dark the clouds, there’s always a silver lining. This collection just might be it.

- Adhi Putra Tawakal -          

            Like a cancer, the recession is growing faster, stronger, and wider. Department stores are screaming in frantic desperation as (potential) customers become less sensitive to what’s new in fashion and even less sensitive to their own look. People in the middle and lower class barely have any budget for the hottest jackets, or shoes, or bags. All they can think about today is how to keep their stomach fed.

            Hard time, indeed, especially for those who merely operate the engines. But creators, inventors, and designers see trouble and poverty as another source of inspiration to ignite their creative capacity. Fashion designers quickly adapted and translate this choking time into collections that might have never been seen before.

            While some other, more intellectual designers realize their vision in the crudest way possible (malevolent-looking females in all-business coats at PRADA, for instance), Frida Giannini of GUCCI has another opinion.

            Her Fall/Winter 2009 collection has an edge and a certain dose of seriousness in it. There’s nothing sweet or girly amongst the parade of leather, sequin, and form-hugging mini dresses in flashy fabrics at GUCCI runway. But the women didn’t look mannish or stiff either. You could easily picture them hitting the clubs, tossing their briefcases and contracts aside as the office hour comes to an end.

            Giannini’s personality is, as always, strongly present in the collection. She still plays with print, this time geometric ones like stripes and circles that might seem out-of-proportion sometime, but she didn’t let it dominate this glam rock cum disco collection. Monochrome and sexiness was all over, as if Tom Ford was back for a while. What set Giannini apart were less skin exposure and, surprisingly, less number of red carpet evening dresses that have always been GUCCI’s territory (unless you consider midnight clubbing an “evening occasion”).

            The “Frida” pantsuit, that has been present since Giannini took over Alessandra Facchinetti’s job as GUCCI’s Creative Director, was also there. Its incessant display throughout Giannini’s era might bore some critics at this point, who have impatiently waited for something unexpected and out of the GUCCI box. But what’s realistic is destined to survive, and at least it can be considered as a new GUCCI signature besides the bamboo-handled bags and the GG Monograms that now have lost its force of authenticity due to much counterfeiting. Why else would GUCCI keep selling the pantsuit?

            I still hold the believe that Giannini has pinned down her formula for Spring/Summer: colorful prints and lady-like shapes. Look back at her last four Spring/Summer collections and you can almost accurately predict what’s going to come for 2010. But such predictability doesn’t seem to apply when the clothes had to go thicker.

            In Fall/Winter 2006 there were disco 70’s women at the GUCCI runway, then jetsetters in 2007 with a very clean and polished look. In 2008 Giannini took GUCCI to an unexpected, almost idiosyncratic direction towards a luxurious, much upgraded version of folk and country. Now it’s as if she got off her saddle, drives a high-speed sports car, and heads to the hottest club. Not a stable for horses and hippies. Perhaps Giannini has reserved Fall/Winter for her time to be playful, but notwithstanding commercialism.

            True, everyone is squeezed by the economic crisis, even the so-called recession-proof superrich around the world to a certain degree. “Sale” is now a very popular scene, yet tragic for the luxury industry who is unwilling to get off its exclusive throne. So how does Giannini keep GUCCI’s margin positive without resorting to the “S” word? Being realistic, of course, and never forgetting that “luxury” literally means all that emit radiance.

            GUCCI’s Fall/Winter 2009 collection is exactly that: confident, radiant looks that put women in a sexy and happy mood. The message of this collection is clear: just because we live in a depressive time we don’t have to feel or, even worse, look depressed. Disentangling the threads of multiple trouble can be done in a way that keeps everything fun and everyone in a good mood. However dark the clouds, there’s always a silver lining. This collection just might be it.

- Adhi Putra Tawakal -           

Really? Mungkin tidak. Sepasang prinsip di atas dapat menjadi bumerang bila tidak anda terapkan secara hati-hati dan tepat konteks. Bilamana anda tak bersikap cermat dan sadar timing, anda justru akan dianggap tak menghargai orang lain. Mengapa begitu? Karena anda tidak berpesta dan bergaul dengan robot, melainkan dengan manusia yang juga memiliki penilaian yang bisa berubah.

Ada beberapa motif dari kedua prinsip di atas. Saat kita menerapkan keduanya secara sadar, kita memiliki ekspektasi bahwa orang lain akan melihat dan menilai kita sebagai sosok yang sibuk. Dengan kata lain, kita ingin melahirkan anggapan bahwa kehadiran kita juga dibutuhkan oleh banyak orang lain sampai-sampai kita sulit datang tepat waktu atau berlama-lama dalam sebuah acara. Selain itu, tidak menjadi orang pertama yang hadir di sebuah perkumpulan membebaskan kita dari rasa bosan dan kesal menunggu anggota lainnya yang terlambat. Siapa yang suka menunggu? Nobody. Siapa yang suka menjadi orang yang ditunggu-tunggu? Everybody.

Lantas mengapa bertahan di sebuah pesta hingga (menjelang) akhir membuat anda terlihat desperate? Well, to put it simply, that would make you look like you had nothing else to do. It would also make you look like you had a boring, meaningless life and staying in a party for as long as possible is the only way to satisfy your thirst for entertainment. Itu yang membuat anda terlihat desperate. Citra anda pun akan semakin jatuh bila anda bertahan meskipun orang-orang yang anda kenal telah meninggalkan pesta dan anda berusaha untuk nimbrung dengan sekelompok orang asing yang tersisa.

Bila anda memang hanya peduli pada pesta, pergaulan, dan citra sebagai biang pesta maka kedua prinsip tersebut patut anda pegang teguh. Namun kualitas relasi sosial selalu rentan terhadap fluktuasi. Persepsi orang lain akan anda sebagai orang “penting” dengan lingkaran pergaulan terluas dapat luntur sebagaimana toleransi orang lain terhadap keterlambatan dan keengganan anda untuk menghabiskan waktu lebih lama di suatu acara juga memiliki batas. Bila anda terus me-nomor-dua-kan relasi anda di bawah kebutuhan untuk tampil “penting”, pada akhirnya anda justru terlihat menyepelekan para teman anda dan pihak penyelenggara pesta.

OK, kalau kita hanya bicara soal pesta di club, dimana anda berdesakan dengan complete strangers dan anda tidak berkewajiban untuk datang pada waktu tertentu, maka kita tidak punya masalah. Namun datang terlambat telah begitu membudaya di Indonesia, bahkan telah di-cap sebagai karakter orang Indonesia (oleh orang Indonesia sendiri!). Datang terlambat, dan actually menganggap bahwa itu dapat terus dimaklumi, adalah gejala seorang yang tak bisa menghargai waktu dan kepentingan orang lain. Begitu orang lain menyadari bahwa anda lebih mementingkan citra diri dan status sebagai orang-yang-ditunggu di atas quality time bersama mereka maka anda tidak akan lagi menjadi penting. Siapa yang ingin berbagi momen dengan seseorang yang menganggap momen tidak tidak penting?

Kapan waktu yang tepat untuk tiba dan meninggalkan suatu acara sangatlah relatif terhadap kepentingan kita masing-masing. Menerapkan kedua prinsip Hiltonian di atas jelas dapat melambungkan status sosial kita. But in my opinion, penerapannya tidak tepat pada segala acara atau social gathering. Menerapkan prinsip tersebut saat kita bersama orang-orang yang lebih dari sekedar stranger atau kenalan-sambil-lalu justru dapat merusak hubungan sosial. Perhatian pada citra diri tidak perlu kita abaikan, namun kita harus tahu kapan perlu mendedikasikan quality time dengan orang-orang yang sesungguhnya penting. 

- Adhi Putra Tawakal -

            Miuccia Prada adalah seorang perancang yang tanpa henti membuat para kritikus fesyen dan jurnalis berpegang teguh pada prinsip “expect the unexpected”. Prada sangat dikenal senang melakukan sesuatu untuk sebuah koleksi yang seolah merupakan antitesis dari koleksi sebelumnya. Tahun 2009 ini bukanlah pengecualian.

            Untuk Spring/Summer, musimnya para perempuan muda, Prada menampilkan koleksi yang seksi dan lady-like tanpa memproyeksikan perempuan sebagaimana mereka tampil di nightclub. Tak ada bling atau apapun yang menyiratkan gemerlap kehidupan urban, hanya sederet tampilan dengan elemen-elemen yang terkesan primitif, tak tersentuh modernitas: print kulit ular, kerutan pada kain, ketiadaan retsleting, dan warna-warna dasar seperti hitam dan coklat yang sangat dikuasai oleh Prada.

            Apa antitesis dari itu semua? Bila anda berpikir sesuatu yang menandakan kehidupan kota, sarat teknologi dan pemujaan terhadap materi, maka anda salah besar. Prada justru bertahan di kawasan primitif untuk Fall/Winter 2009 (talk about unexpected, huh?), but there is a very interesting twist. Pakaian dan aksesori yang ditampilkan justru lebih “beradab”. Tak ada referensi terhadap suku tertentu, baik dalam print maupun potongan, melainkan sederet mantel, tops, dan rok yang masuk akal untuk dikenakan oleh para business woman di ruang rapat. Boots-nya adalah pengecualian. Mereka mungkin justru mengingatkan anda pada tukang ledeng.

            “OK, lantas apanya yang tetap primitif?”, you might ask. The answer: the models who walked down the runway. Koleksi Spring/Summer 2009-nya mungkin tampil primitif, but the women were very civilized. Rambut mereka digelung dengan anting bandul kecil tergantung manis di telinga, mereka tampil formal dan sophisticated. One season later, the PRADA women look like cave women. Rambut mereka frizzy, kulit mereka pucat pasi, dan sorot mata mereka tajam, kosong dari segala empati (sebuah tampilan yang mengingatkan saya pada Stella Tennant). These women look savage and cannibalistic, as if violence is their only language and flesh is the only thing to satisfy their crave.

            Koleksi ini memiliki pesan yang serupa dengan koleksi PRADA di Fall/Winter 2006: “female empowerment”. Namun jika di tahun 2006 Prada memproyeksikan perempuan yang sadar politik dan berdaya secara intelektual, di tahun 2009 ini Prada seolah bicara mengenai perempuan dengan keberdayaan yang “mentah”, siap menghadapi segala tantangan peradaban (seperti resesi global sekarang ini) tanpa perlu berbasa-basi soal idealisme politik. Perempuan 2009 ini seolah sudah muak dengan segala konseptualisasi dan pretensi moral. Yang tersisa adalah basic instinct dan hukum rimba, sebagaimana tema PRADA sendiri untuk Fall/Winter 2009 ini: survival.

            Laksana Arkeolog (atau Paleontolog), Prada menggali lebih dalam. Tak puas dengan reruntuhan di tengah belantara, ia menggali kulit bumi, mencari apapun yang bisa dicanangkan sebagai akar dari kemanusiaan dalam bentuknya yang paling mentah. Mungkin itulah analogi yang tepat bagi koleksi yang kembali membuat para kritikus berdecak kagum ini. Sangatlah memuaskan bagaimana Prada berhasil menyuntikkan substansi filosofis pada koleksi yang tetap marketable.

- Adhi Putra Tawakal -

            Sebagai seorang perancang yang relatif muda, Frida Giannini tidak takut untuk membuat pernyataan tegas akan visinya mengenai GUCCI. Sejak memulai debutnya melalui koleksi womenswear Spring/Summer 2006, Giannini tak ragu untuk mengambil alih kendali kreasi, secara aktual dan secara konseptual. Statusnya sebagai Creative Director GUCCI tidak sebatas “hitam di atas putih”, namun juga mewujud secara nyata dalam apa yang ia ciptakan bagi GUCCI selama 4 tahun terakhir ini.

            Dengan segera Giannini keluar dari bayang-bayang Tom Ford, sang megastar-designer ikonik yang kepergiannya dari GUCCI sangat disayangkan oleh berbagai jurnalis. Dalam usaha menegaskan identitasnya, Giannini mewarnai GUCCI dengan berbagai print cerah yang memberikan para perempuan tampilan segar, muda, dan mewah dalam waktu yang sama. Gaun-gaun kreasinya pun memberikan tampilan yang seksi dengan cara yang cerdas dan tidak terkesan … slutty. Semua itu kontras dengan kreasi monumental Ford yang, meminjam istilah Thakoon Panichgul, “oversexed”.

            Berbeda dengan ilmuwan laboratorium, Giannini telah menyempurnakan formulanya sejak percobaan pertama. Selain permainan print dan tampilan-tampilan yang tidak mengumbar seksualitas, secara konsisten Giannini menghadirkan pilihan ready-to-wear yang actually ready to be worn tanpa perlu membuat kita berpikir “what the … How would I look good in that?!”. Dan koleksi Spring/Summer 2009 ini bukanlah pengecualian. Semua yang ditampilkan di runway September 2008 lalu, dan yang hadir di butik GUCCI favorit anda di Jakarta, begitu masuk akal, wearable, dan dapat diadaptasikan untuk berbagai occasion.

            Getaway ke Nusa Dua, gathering eksklusif orang-orang terpilih, atau sekadar kunjungan rutin ke pusat perbelanjaan favorit, you name it, this collection will effortlessly fit you in. Print yang cerah untuk di pantai? Check. Gaun glamor untuk “menampar” sosialita lain? Check. Celana yang nyaman untuk hari yang sibuk? Check. Brand yang dengan setia memberikan anda tampilan distingtif? Check. Semua itu bisa anda dapatkan dari koleksi ini bersama dengan rasa aman dari going out of style.

            Bila selama ini anda cukup berani untuk tampil eksentrik, jauh dari apa yang digandrungi para fashionista Jakarta, maka mungkin sikap pragmatis Giannini merupakan problem bagi anda. True, Giannini semakin berhasil mencetak personalitasnya pada citra GUCCI, namun ia melakukannya dengan cara yang relatif jauh dari resiko. Selama 4 tahun terakhir, formula Giannini untuk Spring/Summer diaplikasikan secara ketat dan cenderung predictable. Di lain pihak, kreasinya untuk Fall/Winter lebih fluktuatif, seolah ia belum menemukan formula yang tepat untuk musim fesyen yang asing di Indonesia ini.

            Saya rasa sikap pragmatis Giannini tidak perlu menjadi masalah untuk kita. Pragmatisme sendiri masih dominan dalam kultur kita, termasuk dalam cara kita berbusana. Hal ini semakin mudah dimengerti, terutama di saat semua orang tersentak oleh krisis ekonomi global seperti sekarang ini. Masa resesi ini bukanlah waktu untuk bermain dengan resiko. Krisis kepercayaan terhadap segala sesuatu yang kurang memiliki prospek untuk berhasil dan bertahan sedang melanda dimana-mana. Untuk menghadapinya, kita harus selalu membuat pilihan bijak dan memastikan bahwa hasil yang kita petik adalah maksimal.

            Koleksi Spring/Summer 2009 GUCCI adalah pilihan yang cerdas dengan value yang maksimal, terutama saat ini. Brand-nya memberikan anda eksklusifitas dari kaum massal, sementara koleksinya tidak membatasi ruang gerak anda pada kesempatan tertentu saja. Saat ekonomi sedang melamban, semua orang harus mengeksplorasi segala kesempatan untuk bisa hidup dengan aman dan nyaman. Every day is getting more significant, and we want to explore each day’s potentials in the most stylish manner possible. How? Jawabannya berbunyi G-U-C-C-I.

- Adhi Putra Tawakal –      

I don’t want to be buried under bricks and cement

Just a fertile soil and green grasses

I don’t want tomb with religious affiliation

Just simple stuffs, name, RIP, DoB, & DoD

When I die,

I would love to share my grave with my loved one(s)

Especially my wife, if I had any by the time I pass

Of course she could refuse to share

And I won’t be alive to painfully know her refusal

When I die,

I want people to mourn me

Cry their hearts out as if they couldn’t live without me

I want my funeral to be attended by thousands

Just like Jean-Paul Sartre’s

Also broadcasted and seen by millions

Like Princess Diana’s

That would really make me feel special

(Yeah right, like I would still be able to feel)

When I die,

I don’t want to go to heaven

At least not to the so-called “better place”

I don’t need 7 angels, milk river, and golden gate

Nothing is better than being on earth with my loved ones

(I can say that for now…)

After death,

I think it’s either I reincarnate or end for good

So pathetic is the idea of heaven, a utopia of those dreamers

Who cannot accept pains and sufferings

Death,

An event, inevitable one

And yet we can prepare for it, having this and that in advance

Just to make it extraordinary

Like a play,

Death needs a spectacular ending

Precedented by spectacular acts from spectacular actor(s)

I’ve wished for spectacular end, but have I acted spectacularly?

Only the audience can tell