alex[a]lexa

Grey Sheep

@shopalexalexa

Location

jakarta / indonesia

University

goldsmiths college

Graduation year

2008

Contact

Alex[a]lexa is a fashion label founded by Monique Natalia Soeriaatmadja in collaboration with her husband and partner Sendy Soeriaatmadja. Having set out
creating the label in Jakarta in 2011, the brand quickly became the talk of town with their modern take on urban dressing.

Self taught with a basics of pattern drafting and fashion design taken through short courses, Monique - the Creative Director of the brand, considers herself an eternal student learning from anyone and anything she encounters, and she applies this sense of studious curiosity in all of her designs. With a bachelor degree from the prestigious University of Indonesia majoring in Communications and a hobby for all things fashion and DIY, Monique - as the Creative Director of the label, sharpened her fashion taste as a beauty and fashion stylist and writers at several major publications such as Female and Cosmopolitan Indonesia. This interest combined with a Master’s education in Interactive Media at the Goldsmiths College, University of London, which is renowned university for their innovative and creative approach, gave the label their unique approach to design.
One thing that sets Alex[a]lexa apart is their take on creating urban wear with a playful twist. This is done through injecting a sense of whimsicality in the form of
prints and applications, which compliment their take on modern yet laid back silhouettes perfectly. Monique’s previous double role as a marketer and PR for multi national companies also gave the extra edge of what people working in the same area would want to wear, both to work and to play.

In 2013 the brand was also selected to be one of the top 3 finalists for the prestigious Most Innovative Brand category for Cleo Fashion Award, which gave them a chance to launch their Spring Summer 2014 collection at Jakarta Fashion Week. The brand recently has also been listed as the new designer/brand to watch out for by In Style Indonesia, and previously by Free Magazine, The Jakarta Globe and The Jakarta Post.

Latest Collection

SS 2014 | Micro Structures

As part of the shortlisted finalists for the notable Cleo Fashion Award 2013 for Most Innovative Brand, alex[a]lexa launches their Spring|Summer 2014 collection titled “Micro Structures” at Jakarta Fashion Week . This season Monique Soeriaatmadja, the Creative Director of the label, turned to science, inspired by the vibrant colors of Scanning Electrone Microscopic images of everyday things that she encountered during one of her many visits to various science museums combined with the futuristic structures these science museums are built with.
Carefully chosen images of futuristic architecture are printed to enhance the classic yet modern silhouette of her designs, one of which is the image of Valencia’s Museo de las Ciencas, which she photographed on a recent travel to Valencia is printed on an a line shaped dress, enhanced by the microscopic image of blood cells tinted a vibrant blue to compliment the blue sky which served as a background for the building.
Other prints, which appear to be familiar shapes, such as round tennis balls or a simple polka dot pattern are actually microscopic images of bacteria and cells. The round tennis balls are actually microscopic images of staphylococcus bacteria and the polka dots are actually made up of tinted microscopic images of lymphoblast white blood cells.
This season, the self-taught designer who studied Interactive Media at Goldsmiths College, University of London and Journalism at the University of Indonesia, also experimented with quilting technique. Series of hexagonal shapes are quilted on to dresses, outerwear, tops and bottom. These shapes are inspired by the microscopic image of the compound eye of a Blue Bottle Fly, which through a Scanning Electron Microscope looks like series of rounded hexagonal shapes.
Silhouettes for this collection are inspired by a futuristic 60s aesthetics, which stemmed from Monique’s fascination with the Space Age, which began with the development of several technologies which culminated on October 4th 1957, with the launch of Sputnik 1 by the Soviet Union. This was the world’s first artificial satellite, which ushered in a new era of political, scientific and technological achievements that became known as the Space Age. Aside from technological advancements as a quest to explore outer space, aesthetic codes of the decade were also impacted by these advancements, including fashion, with minimalist designs and futuristic silhouettes dominating the fashion scene. These minimalist and easy to wear silhouettes combined with fabric ranging from lightweight silk and jerseys, crisp cotton piques and lush cotton silk, compliment the vibrant prints perfectly.