Beautiful models walked on the catwalk in hijabs, headscarves, vibrant ikat and batik pattern during High Fashion for Muslim Wear: New Design from Java. The Corcoran Art Gallery was packed by fashion and culture enthusiasts – tickets were all reserved. Though, Washington DC is not famous for fashion unlike its neighboring city New York City, the existence of foreign governments have brought different colors for DC fashion scene.

During High Fashion for Muslim Wear: New Design from Java, two collections were presented by two Indonesian fashion designers Meeta Fauzan and Helen Dewi Kirana Darmawan of NESS Designs.

Muslim wear is not always present in DC since most of the congressional staffers, embassy workers and other NGOs employee opt to wear a professional typical-DC dress code: suit. Though some embassies, for example Indonesian Embassy, encouraged its staff to wear Batik (a traditional Indonesian pattern made by wax-resist dyeing technique) on Fridays. World Bank and IMF also allow their employee to wear national attire during summer or Fridays.

The collections that were shown during the fashion show were indeed versatile and carefully made. Some of them can compliment DC fashion scene summer look. Here are photos of some of the best costume from the fashion show:

Behind the scene

The bold blue color and pattern easily reminds anyone of shell and blue ocean

There are at least three patterns that created this vibrant look

Burgundy and black look good together

Contrary to traditional Muslim wear that use mono colors, this neon fabric quite made a statement.

Dewi Dharmawan, one of the designers, is a Christian woman and has been designing for Muslim wears for a few years now. This makes the collections more special.