After mainly concentrating on couture day wear, Indonesian designer Didit Hediprasetyo is now tackling eveningwear and is doing so with one of the garments that demands the most perfect tailoring, the Chinese Qipao. The result: a symphony of elegant midnight blue, body-hugging one-piece dresses that recall the women in movies by Wong Kar-Wai, but with a definitive French flair with stunning embroideries by Maison Lesage. 

The Indonesian designer said he was inspired by the cosmopolitan ambiance of Wong’s movie “In the Mood for Love,” and wanted to present his own twist on the traditional body-skimming Chinese garment. “I wanted to give it some French sensuality and the energy of the American East Coast. I wanted to make it less stiff. The Cheong-sam (other name for qipao) is very elegant, but I wanted to make it more realistic,” the designer said after the presentation.

Hediprasetyo used embroidery sparsely but strategically, placed on long sleeves or to underline the roundness of a hip, staying faithful to his motto of easily wearable couture. The young designer, who loves to work with exotic leather like ostrich and crocodile, infused small leather touches on the qipao collars or on the fastenings’ outlines.

He also created sexy backs with generous cut-outs or leather straps. As the collection of blue outfits progressed and moved away from the more literal interpretation of the qipao, it nevertheless remained cohesive.

Though this new collection was presented at the Hotel Bristol outside of the official Couture week, Didit Hediprasetyo has established himself as a rising star of the Parisian Haute Couture scene. With the President of the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture Didier Grumbach in attendance at his presentation, one can expect that Hediprasetyo will soon be invited to show on the official calendar soon.