Spotlight on MORAL: The art of storytelling through fashion
Written by Ilman Ramadhanu | Read in Indonesian
“There is always a story behind Moral” is a sentiment that was constantly echoed by Moral’s creative director, Andandika Surasetja, during an interview with TFR.
Through his contemporary genderless brand, Moral, Andandika articulates his personal stories and translates his outlook of life into conceptual and rule-breaking designs.
Storytelling is at the heart of Moral since fashion is Andandika’s preferred way of communicating, “I'm a very introverted person but I always feel this urgency to express my feelings, and fashion is the perfect medium for me to communicate that,” he explained.
He approaches fashion like one writes a journal, constantly undergoing a cathartic process of self-introspection in search for inspiration. That is why the stories he told are oftentimes filled with soul-baring sentimentality. Moral's fall/winter 2020-2021 collection, for instance, told a story of the complexities of human relationship. The exhausting yet addicting process of falling in and out of love were translated into romantic pleated pieces with blushing colours.
While stories inspired his concepts, his approach to fashion design is filled with a euphoric sense of rebelliousness. Andandika paralleled his designs with alternative music as it constantly tries to challenge the norms. “We challenge (the idea) that fashion is not always about beauty but it is about how you challenge stigma and existing ideas”, he explained.
The sartorial manifestation of this lies in the nonconformist silhouette, bold play of colour and textures, as well as progressive tailoring that are prevalent in Moral’s designs.
However, the term anti-mainstream does not do Moral justice, as the profundity of the stories that Andandika infuses into each piece yield them a sense of maturity that catapulted his identity into more than just a designer, but also a visionary.
His ingenuity in translating his visions into visually-striking designs earned him the invitation to showcase a collection at 2019 Harbin fashion week as well as plenty of accolades, including the first runner up in the regional Asia Newgen Fashion Award in 2018 and the most innovative local brand in the Fashion Force Award at Jakarta fashion week in 2017.
For Andandika, however, these accolades served more than just a testament to his work, but also as a form of self-assurance to combat his insecurity from having never studied fashion, “I was afraid to call myself a fashion designer, so I felt I had to join competitions because I didn’t go through a formal education in fashion.”
He came from a communication background and studied at Padjadjaran University. He was focusing on photography and recalled that he met a lot of fashion students at the time whose creations he often helped photograph. From there, he began to learn how to make patterns and to manipulate fabrics.
In 2013, one year after he graduated university, he founded Moral. During those early phases, he recalled starting with simple designs like t-shirts, hoodies and sweatshirts. His designing skills concomitantly grew as he built his brand by experimenting into jackets and blazers. He also credited his time working as an editor and stylist at a fashion magazine, Nylon, as an experience that had a huge impact in the development of his designing skills.
While working as a stylist, he met Radhitio Anindhito, then-fellow stylist, who is now jointly running Moral with Andandika as the brand director. He described his relationship with Radhitio as a kinship where they constantly push each other to be better. He recalled his experience at the 2018 regional Asia Newgen Fashion Award, which he noted as one of the times in his life where he almost gave up. At that time, Radhitio encouraged him to continue, and they finally snatched the runner up position.
In retrospect, Andandika credited that experience as the turning point in his career where he felt like he made it as a fashion designer. “At that moment, I realised that what it takes to be a designer is more than just education, but also our commitment and our willingness to grow by going through a process that can’t be bypassed.”
Recently, after almost 10 years since Moral was founded, Andandika and Radhitio found the brand in a state of expansion. In August, while the rest of the country was celebrating Indonesia’s independence day, Moral held an ambitious two-day fashion presentation where not only they showcased their latest collection, but also announced the diversification of the brand into three standalone lines, namely Moral, Studio Moral and Studio Moral in Futura.
They explained that the decision was made to allow the brand to be more retail-focused while still maintaining the artistic integrity in Moral’s designs. “We realised that in order to survive, we have to balance our idealism in design and the commercial aspect of fashion. We saw that conceptual design is indeed who we really are and is the core of Moral, but as far as business goes, we live through Studio Moral in Futura and Studio Moral.”
Despite being geared to be more commercial, the designs in Studio Moral in Futura and Studio Moral are far from being safe. With Studio Moral in Futura, Andandika aimed to celebrate the expressive and carefree attitude of youth. It was translated through a series of contemporary graphic t-shirts, sweatshirts and hoodies that were paired with contrasting fluorescent track shorts and skirts that glowed in the dark which fills you up with an electrifying-heart-pumping energy like that of a rave in the 90s.
Image courtesy of Dok. Arkagaia Co./Refa Adiredja
While Studio Moral in Futura exudes juvenile energy, Studio Moral is geared for a more mature audience. In a collection titled “Collection:01”, Andandika and his co-designer, Karina Nasywa, presented the idea of a juxtaposition between the past and the future as they reimagined a classic workwear.
The idea of workwear was chosen as Andandika envisioned the line to cater to millennials who are looking for essential everyday wear but with a twist. “The clothes here are practical and functional, yet I wanted to break every boundary,” Andandika explained.
Men’s blazers were cropped into waist-length and given a radical u-shaped-bolero-cut hemline. In a pair of pants they call “the low x pants”, the regular silhouette of high-waisted pants was given an update with a flare added right above a cinched waistline, giving them a shape reminiscent of a sine wave.
The idea of genderless dressing is emphasized in this line, as male and female models wore matching asymmetric pleated skirts while corsets, a symbol of femininity, were paired with masculine white shirts and black ties.
The colour story also gave workwear a fresh take, as the neutral colour palette was contrasted with a pop of neon green, purple, turquoise and hot pink scarves and socks that felt like the remnants of the rave party that happened in the previous collection.
As much as it was a business decision to diversify the brand, personally for Andandika, the decision was also made to honour the organic process of development that he went through as a designer while building his brand. “When I look at the designs in Studio Moral in Futura, that was what I designed when I started the brand 10 years ago. Then I started developing outerwear, jackets and blazers until now my designs are more conceptual. From thereon, we started to realise that each process I went through materialised into something that has its own form,” Andandika explained.
In a way, the creation of the new lines allowed Andandika to treat Moral as his playground where he can be free from the conundrum of balancing design and business; a place where he can push fashion to its farthest limit. It is apparent in Moral’s latest fall/winter 2022-2023 collection titled “Home”, inspired by his childhood home in Bandung.
Image courtesy of Dok. Arkagaia Co./Refa Adiredja
Traditional beskap was recontextualised into contemporary outerwear as it was paired with denim pants that were embellished with fluffy feather trimmings on each side. It was followed by a series of jacquard safari shirts that were printed with Indonesian tribal patterns and came in two contrasting colours. A reiteration of Moral’s signature, a cropped blazer, also appeared, made out of blue velvet and further decorated in lux appliques.
However, it was the story behind each piece that made the collection feel sentimental. Every part of this collection is well thought-out and filled with the intention to emanate the sweet memory that he experienced in his home.
This was reflected in the piece-de-resistance of the collection, a yellow long coat with fringe embellishment and pink floral pattern that were made out of a knitted blanket that used to be a gift at his parents’ wedding. A painting of an abstract eruption of blue, yellow and green hues that hung in the walls of his home also became the source of inspiration. Andandika turned the painting into a motif and created an ultramodern asymmetric top and high-neck stretch tops.
He described this collection as his most honest and sincere as of yet, which made it his favourite ever. “In this collection, I didn’t have any intention to impress anyone. I just wanted to tell a story and I felt like a lot of people could relate (to the story) so I felt understood. And all I want as a designer and a person is to be understood.”
Now Andandika and the Moral team are working on a follow-up to the “Home” collection, which conversely will tell the bad memories of home, as well as a collection to celebrate Moral’s 10th year anniversary.
He also planned to continue to grow Moral even more, increasing its exposure locally and internationally, especially in today’s Indonesian fashion industry that he noted to possess a fresh sense of open-mindedness which allows Moral to continue to flourish.
More importantly though, for Andandika, the idea of growth is beyond materialistic gain. “The most important thing from growth is the ability to always learn something new and be exposed to new things.”
