JAKARTA, Oct. 26 (Xinhua) -- Fashion industry has become a significant driver in Indonesia's creative economy, and this has been fully demonstrated in the ongoing 8th Jakarta Fashion Week, the largest ever held in Southeast Asia.
The week-long annual event, presenting latest designs in fashion industry, was attended by 230 models and 250 designers from host country, Australia, India, Japan, South Korea, Thailand and Britain.
During the event, more than 3,000 outfits, from ready-to-wear to haute couture clothes, are being displayed through 70 shows to be staged in a Jakarta lavish shopping mall.
More than 30,000 fashion enthusiasts are expected to flock to the event that started on Saturday, and will end later this weekend.
"This would be right moment to introduce and show Indonesian fashion labels to visitors, enabling them to witness and experience the good quality and creativity of our talented designers who are comparable to international ones," Jakarta Fashion Week organizer chief Svida Alisjahbana said in her speech to open the event.
Alisjahbana said this year's fashion week will shape the fashion trend for next year, adding that it will bring more benefits to the nation's vibrant fashion industry.
Through various activities conducted during the show, a Jakarta municipal official expected that the annual event will further promote the country's traditional cloths of batik and woven cloths to international markets.
Besides that, the show may uplift Jakarta into the league of the world's fashion cities.
"This event may bring us on a par with Milan, Paris, London and New York," Jakarta Deputy Governor Jarot Saiful Hidayat said in his remarks in the opening day.
The Indonesian government is now focusing efforts on enhancing tourism and creative economy that includes fashion industry amid sluggish world economy.
It has issued a series of economic reform packages, some of which are aimed to promote creative economy, attracting startups to run their own businesses.
According to data released by the industry ministry, Indonesia's creative economy contributed 641.8 trillion rupiah (about 49.3 billion U.S. dollars) to the national gross domestic product (GDP) last year.
Earnings in Indonesia's fashion industry stood at 208.6 trillion rupiah (about 16 billion U.S. dollars), accounting for 28.29 percent of total earnings in the country's creative economy last year, the data said.
