introducing ÁINE SS'17

interview with independent womenswear label from Jakarta

Published on 15 June 2017

ÁINE is an independent design label based in Jakarta presenting curated capsule collections, creating contemporary pieces inspired by the visual arts, culture, and the youth identity. Captured by Allegra Messina, with makeup by Samara Elster and Azlin Nicolette, Sophia Simone modelling for this series, the SS17 collection of ÁINE is the quintessence of freedom, feminity and sensitivity, but also strong and obstinate at the same time. We talk a bit with Femilia Putri, the creative director about the brand, it's incomparable aesthetic and the inspirational sources.

Tell us a bit about the brand and how you discovered your passion for clothing design?

ÁINE originated from my vision simply to design an affordable clothing range that involves a thorough research in the production of our collections. I dislike the fact that many people still perceive that inspiration behind clothing as pretentious, superficial, and sometimes too exclusive.
I grew up watching a lot of period dramas, especially the endless adaptations of Jane Austen, the costumes, the sets, the traditions – I love them. While I am aware that in reality, the past is not always ‘the good-old- days’ but I was born and live in a city that is chaotic, crowded, a city of contrasts and cluttered. Watching the period dramas enable me to escape from the bustling Jakarta. While the city’s diversity has its own charm to thrills me doing things I love.

How would you describe your overall aesthetic?

Essentially, I wanted to make clothes with a sense of purity to it, and concentrate on a line that expressed and idea of femininity, fragility, and sensitivity. While I have always been interested in Romanticism in the literature and the arts. I want ÁINE to be calm, sensitive and romantic, beautiful, but also strong in the same time.
For that reasons, taking the inspiration from the past is central in my creative process. From the 18 th Century Romanticism to Orientalism. In a word, I would say the aesthetic of ÁINE is romantic minimalist.

What’s the concept behind your latest collection?

For the Fall Winter 2017 and Spring Summer 2017 collections, I created two-part collections inspired by the photographs of the great artists inside their studios. It is a recount of the compelling behind-the- scenes glimpse into an artist's workspace, a modest ambition to portray their artistic sanctuary at their most creative, experimental, and sometimes chaotic.
For the Spring/Summer 2017 collections, it takes on a different story from the artist's studio while strongly taking cues of their utilitarian workwear style, from a reimagined classic painter's smock dress to a peasant blouse inspired by the object of their paintings.

Can you talk us through your design process a bit – what are the key considerations?

When it comes to choosing inspiration, I usually let it happens organically. But, most of the time, I start looking for the campaign location, then start building the story from there. Next, I start with research and spend time scanning for inspiration from films, pop culture, art history, and trend forecast report. Once the concept is decided, I proceed to the design process and start developing the pieces.
While my artistic pursuits have always been from classic times. But as a contemporary designer, it’s my aspiration to create modern design that also captured today’s zeitgeist.

What inspires your creative process and how do you see your designs evolving?

As I have mentioned earlier, I’ve always been interested both in history and the decorative arts. The fantasies and ideas from the past times carry me away. For that reasons, I tend to pick inspiration here and there. But I also derive inspiration from the youth subculture, for me the subculture is fascinating because of it's unpredictable, experimental, and original characteristic. My inspiration intertwined between the soft grunge, feminist art movement, the romanticism, and the minimalism movement.
However, I never limit myself to a specific style or anything. I think it’s important for us to allow one-self to grow and change, for we are always seek to evolve into new better versions of ourselves after all. At the moment, I choose to take more time in building my collection, so I can look myself as collected and more experienced person than today.

Who should we be following online?

Oh the list is endless! But if I had to choose five, it would be @yourdoris, @love.watts, @artlexachung, @petrafcollins, and @cococapitan

What are your thoughts on the current trend for ‘fast fashion’ –do you think it’s giving brands less time to grow?

Not necessarily, for me the pace of time doesn’t affect the growth of one brand. In fact, I think it’s more important to grow at one’s own pace. But what I did in ÁINE is not always about the growth of the brand, reflecting on the brand’s direction on slow fashion, I strive to design and make garments for the quality and lastingness. Because I want people to understand that clothes ‘don’t just grow on trees’, there are so many process beyond it and not forgetting the fact that despite today’s cutting-edge technology, garments are still made almost entirely by hand. With that mind, we allow slower production schedules and fair wages to ensure the happiness of our worker.
With focus in quality and durability, I want to ensure our customer that longevity triumphs immediacy, in a hope to give awareness to our customers about how they could be playing a larger role in their purchasing decision, and how to resist an overconsumption on unsustainable clothing in this barbarous marathon of the fashion industry.

Who would you most like to collaborate with from within the visual arts and Fashion spheres?

Anyone, who would love to collaborate with me and shared the same vision with ÁINE. As I’m open to hearing about new opportunities. Because people inspire people, right?

What can we expect from you in the future?

So many things happened this past year, we just launched our first collection back in the September 2016 and humbled and grateful for the positive response we’ve received so far. And so, we would love to continue our collaboration with the new artists and designers, perhaps to be able working closely together with them on a special project.
In addition, ÁINE has been focusing selling online, but following the increased competition, it is likely we will focus on improving offline sales, improve retail distribution, and perhaps start looking for international offline stockiest.

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