DEPOK — FISIP UI is not only thick with academic activities. But the orange campus also allows students to express themselves through their dress.
In the last semester, students returned to the Universitas Indonesia campus for offline activities after struggling with online activities for the past two years.
This allows students to express themselves more freely through their fashion style. Daily, a number of students are seen wearing unique outfits for campus activities, such as batik cloths, turbans, and chunky shoes.
The scene seems quite different from other faculties that usually only use cloth shirts and pants.
Practice wearing kebaya and kebaya cloth
Oliv Yolanda, commonly called Oliv, is one of the FISIP UI students who always wear kebaya to campus. Initially, she did it because she had a promise to her friend to wear a kebaya during the first week of college. However, gradually the style stuck with her and she became loyal to wearing kebaya to campus every day.
Oliv’s days start with matching the kebaya and batik cloth she will wear that day. She mentions that during 2-year pandemic has reduced her opportunities to express herself, so she really used the opportunity to study offline to style as she pleased when she goes to campus.
Oliv Yolanda wears kebaya to the FISIP UI campus. Source: Personal Archives
“My dressing style is a colorful celebration of the day. I feel that life is too colorful only to wear black and white. So, dressing up is one of my forms of expression,” said Oliv when asked what makes his dressing style distinctive.
She also revealed that the social environment of FISIP UI supports her in wearing kebaya to campus. She often gets compliments from friends on her style of dress. Oliv was not alone. A number of FISIP UI students also wear kebaya and kebaya cloth when they go to campus.
Oliv and his friends wore kebaya. Source: Personal Archives
Oliv also mentioned that support also came from the lecturers. “Some lecturers support by sharing the first time I wore kebaya to campus,” she said.
Lecturer Perspective
Dewi Chandra Kirana, a permanent lecturer at Department of Communication Sciences, FISIP UI, said that FISIP UI students always have an expressive, casual, and informal dress style while studying. The development of this style cannot be separated from the attitude of lecturers at FISIP UI.
“Actually, what I assess in class has nothing to do with clothing. Nevertheless, our institution provides opportunities for students to dress neatly and cleanly,” he said.
This attitude participating in developing the dressing style of students at FISIP UI. Chandra mentions that when he was still studying in the 1990s, students often followed the dress style displayed on the magazines.
Men, for example, were synonymous with long hair, t-shirts tucked into jeans, and sneakers. According to the lecturer, Kicky, such an appearance was considered neat for students in his day.
However, with the rise of social media among students, the clothing identity of the latest generation of students has evolved. Wearing cloth has become more widespread with the campaign of Berkain Bersama from Swara Gembira.
On the other hand, the rise of thrifting in Pasar Baru and Pasar Senen has given students access to a wide range of clothes for a cheaper price. As a result, according to Kicky, clothing styles have become more colorful.
(Arrumy Fadel)
