Ria Anjelina’s “Aqillah” tagline is “Every Touch is Special”, “Because the products we make are unique, with motifs that strongly characterize the Minang culture. We always use carefully selected quality materials that wearers will find comfortable,” Uni Ria said.
“Through ‘Aqillah by Ria Anjelina’, I don’t offer ‘more attractive’ or ‘prettier clothing’. Rather, I am inviting Indonesian women to be more confident when they wear local brands,” she smiles. “I want to show through my clothing line that Indonesian women are independent and capable. As a woman from the regions, I want my work to be known not just nationally but also inter-nationally.”
The Aqillah brand is strong not just in the Indonesian market, but it has penetrated the Asian market – Malaysia, Singapore Brunei Darussalam, Hong Kong and even Taiwan. After having conquered part of the Asian market, Uni Ria intends to make use of 2023 momentum to start expanding to the United States. Her first step: holding a fashion show in New York.
“I participated in a fashion show in New York City, because I want my local brand to become known nationally, even internationally, and bring fame to the Minang culture with it. Our hopes are so strong that even the Regional Government of West Sumatra supports us,” she declared proudly. “The US is a global fashion center. This is why I introduced my work to the inter¬natio¬nal market through Uncle Sam. With this Minang designer going both national and international, maybe in the future we will have more local designers whose work are globally acknowledged,” she said.
Uni Ria brought the best 10 pieces in her latest collection for the New York fashion show. They are haute couture pieces that require high precision to make. In fact, a single piece takes 6 months to complete; these are elegant, modern songket-based dresses. Why?
“The base material for these pieces is handwoven gold thread songket cloth, which takes three months to complete per piece. It is only when the songket cloth is completely woven that we can process it into the type of gown that we want to make. It took longer to weave the songket cloth, because I want to make customized gowns that differ from ‘ordinary’ songket.
The 10 looks I am taking to New York are predominantly red and black, with gold thread woven into the design. Black, gold, and red are typically Minang colors,” she explained. “I got the inspiration to make 10 different “looks” for the fashion show in New York from overseas designs, which I then modified, mixing them with the typical Minang songket. This results in a design that is contemporary in style.”