[caption id="attachment_110944" align="aligncenter" width="553" caption="The celebration of 22 career years of designer Anne Avantie. Photo by Sonny Hendrawan Saputra"][/caption]
Indonesia must be proud of having a designer who has been successful in making one of Indonesian style of clothings, kebaya to be more famous not only for Indonesian people but also to the world. Kebaya no longer has the image of old-fashioned style but it is enlightened by the modern touch which is fit and fashionable for modern ladies. Yes, she is Anne Avantie, the popular woman designer who has dedicated her life for 22 years in preserving, creating, and promoting kebaya. It seems that todays, when someone mentions kebaya, people will directly think about her. The image of kebaya has been strongly attached toward her.
The lady born in May 20, 1954 decided to share her happiness in celebrating her 22 career years by coming back to her hometown, Solo city to hold a majestic lavish fashion show. Such an honour for her, Keraton Surakarta Hadiningrat (Solo Palace) agreed to give Anne chance to use its spacious yard to be the main venue of her fashion show. The place considered as sacred place for Solo people became the witness of the beautiful show with 3,000 of invited guests. They were celebrities, socialites, businessmen, government officials, and the most special guests for Anne were the friends of his late father, Hari Alexander until all people who had coloured her life when she was child including her nuns, teachers, pedicab drivers, and gardeners.
The event was entitled, "Anne, Cinta, dan Sahabat" (Anne, Love, and Friends) and conducted in May 27, 2011 started from 6.30 pm until late at night. Follow me to feel the togetherness and love delivered by Anne.
[caption id="attachment_110954" align="aligncenter" width="542" caption="The committee were busy to groom up before the show. Photo by Sonny Hendrawan Saputra"][/caption]
Since 2 pm, the committee who had job description to welcome and handle the guests had been busy to prepare. They groomed up with Javanese outfits. Amazingly. they were all still young but had high awareness to participate with event with strong touch of traditional Javanese culture. They were young people from Sebelas Maret University, Sahid Tourism School, Slamet Riyadi University, Yayasan Putra Putri Solo (Price and Pricess of Solo Foundation), Rotaract Solo Pakarti, and Solo Youth Heritage Organization. They became more enthusiastic to join it especially after a day before Anne, by herself came and talked deep gratitude toward their help in succeeding her show. Anne could stay humble to all class of people including for those young people though she had become well known in Indonesia.
[caption id="attachment_110957" align="aligncenter" width="512" caption="Keraton Surakarta Hadiningrat, the venue of Anne Avantie Fashion Show. Photo by Sonny Hendrawan Saputra"][/caption] [caption id="attachment_110955" align="aligncenter" width="585" caption="Panggung Sanggabuwana Tower welcomed all the guests to come inside the palace. Photo by Sonny Hendrawan Saputra"][/caption] [caption id="attachment_110959" align="aligncenter" width="316" caption="Mika Masui from Japan dressed up like abdi dalem. Photo by Sonny Hendrawan Saputra"][/caption]
At 6 pm, the flood of guests started. Committee were ready to greet and welcome them warmly. Soon after they showed the invitation card to ticketing committee, the royal maid or commonly called as abdi dalem directly draped them samir, the typical sash from Keraton Surakarta Hadiningrat with yellow and red colour. The usage of samir was kind of regulation before entering the palace. Surprisingly, there was a girl from Japan were together and dressed up like abdi dalem to drape samir to the guests as well. People might not pay attention to it because she became to look like Javanese with abdi dalem dress. This was another proof about how foreigner loved Indonesian culture.
[caption id="attachment_110962" align="aligncenter" width="303" caption="Young people from Putra Putri Solo foundation gave warm welcome to the guests. Photo by Sonny Hendrawan Saputra"][/caption]
The guests were also welcomed by young people from Putra Putri Solo foundation who completely dressed up with typical elegant Javanese costume. They gave the warm smile to all guests; like a little remembrance about how friendly Solo people are. From the view, guest could directly see the beautiful tower of Panggung Sanggabuwana in their left side. In the past, people could not build any constructions higher than Panggungsanggabuwana. In the right side, they could see display of traditional products to sell. Yes, since they came inside, their eyes were never ended to be spoiled by the perspective of traditional Javanese culture.
[caption id="attachment_110964" align="aligncenter" width="416" caption="Sasana Sewaka - The building near the stage of Anne Avantie"][/caption] [caption id="attachment_110965" align="aligncenter" width="551" caption="Sasana Sewaka, the favourite place for the guests to take picture that night. Photo by Sonny Hendrawan Saputra"][/caption]