Unveiling 'Magellani': Hian Tjen Couture 2017-2018 Collection

One night during his vacation in Morocco, Indonesian fashion designer Hian Tjen found himself struck by the beauty of stars aligning the galaxy. Through his telescope, Hian found a constellation forming a path to the south. His admiration peeked after he found the Estonian love story behind the constellation. A goddess named Lindu fell in love with the Northern Lights and was brokenhearted for her lover's uncertainty. She then flies south while crying and the trail of her tears is believed to have formed the constellation.

With ideas swiftly flowing, Hian drew sketches, picked materials, and chose the colors for his upcoming collection. He also asked Bali-based illustrator, Ian Permana, to illustrate Lindu, planets, stars, and clouds to entirely manifest Hian's imagination to his creations. Hian was even willing to travel back and forth to Italy to transfer the illustrations to premium-quality fabrics. That's not all, his artistic team also worked hard in creating new embellishments, especially crafted to embody the night skies Hian wanted.

After four months, the show was finally birthed. On September 6^th, the Ballroom of Raffless Hotel Jakarta was beautifully transformed into a runway clothed with gleaming lights. Created to resemble starry night skies, the stage becomes alive as models clad in pieces from Magellani, the new collection, trot the stage to showcase the beautiful creations.

Trendy blouses, tier skirts, gallant jackets and dreamy dresses in dusty pink, slate blue, and midnight blue dominated the runway. Hian Tjen specifically chose these colors to reflect the skies when night falls over the dusk. Splashes of silver and gold were also present to add a touch of glamour to the pieces. But what stood out most were the delicate and intricate embellishments that Hian Tjen is known for. On all the clothes you can see how the details were carefully put, not only as a decorative element but also to emphasize on what the collection is inspired by.

Compared to his last fashion show, Magellani has quite a distinctive style. It's lighter, more practical and more modern. To the designer however, working on a simpler collection is more of a challenge as he was expected to enhance the wearer's silhouette through more simplistic designs. Even so, the collection thrived. Departing from a classic silhouette, Hian Tjen successfully infused contemporary character into this exclusive collection.