This year, Digital Fashion Week will be held in Jakarta for the first time. An online and offline platform that supports local designers, Digital Fashion Week Jakarta will take place from 13 to 15 December at Plaza Indonesia Mall, Central Jakarta.

Owned and organized by Singapore-based DFW Creative, Digital Fashion Week Jakarta 2017 (DFW JKT 2017) will highlight selected talents and fashion creations from seven countries such as France, Italy, South Africa, Australia, Thailand, Singapore and Indonesia, while at the same time maintaining a design platform for young and established designers.

DFW JKT 2017 will feature seven runways and more than 20 designers and brands, each with their own interesting story and background. The participating designers come from different countries, and some have already achieved success outside their home country: Harry Salim (Indonesia), Chu Suwannapha (Thailand), Betty Tan (Vietnam) and David Tlale (South Africa). Also involved are Indonesia brand Lotuz, It’s Lifestyle from Italy, and Maybelline x Raffles Design Institute Alumni.

Since its inauguration in 2012, Digital Fashion Week is the only dedicated marketing platform to empower and redefine fashion weeks by bringing them to greater heights using technology and creative marketing ideas. Tapping on technologies such as LIVE streaming and 360 virtual reality allows fashion enthusiast to access the full fledge of fashion week’s activities, from behind the scene, rehearsals as well as runway collaborations.

"We are pleased to hold the first edition of DFW JKT 2017 after five years running in Singapore and Thailand. Jakarta has been our target for a long time, not only becauseits geographic location, but also because DFW is familiar to the fashion community in Jakarta," says Charina Widjaya, Managing Director of DFW Creative.

DFW aims to present a fashion week that stimulates effective interaction between designers, brands and their customers that in the end may generate sales. For its firstevent in Jakarta, DFW will launch a format commonly seen at various fashion weeks, but with a special focus on solutions and actions aimed at creating real business opportunities for brands and designers, going beyond than just building brand awareness.

"We recognized what designers mostly need a platform where they can promote their brands and directly test the market. This year is the first year for DFW to focus on customers 100 percent. DFW JKT 2017 will host scheduled sales events after every runway show, where consumers can hear directly from the designers and can immediately buy the designs that were presented on the runway,” Widjaya added.

Besides the main event, DFW invites international fashion and creative experts to talk about their inspiration at the Fashion Forum: how to get out of their comfort zone in order to achieve success, and how to build influence and increase the value of a brand on social media. These inspirational experts include Italian Vogue fashion editor Elena Bara, Global Creative Consultant Christelle Noviare-Domee, as well as the founders of NowFashion.com, Vallerio Mezzanotti and Valerio Nappi.

Additionally, there are 12 fashion brands joining the first DFW Retail Pop-Up Store at Plaza Indonesia, which will be open for two months.

Rintang Azhar

Rintang Azhar

Rintang is a previous staff writer for NOW! with experience in hard news and lifestyle journalism. He specialises in art, design, culture, fashion, environmental, and urban issues.