Connect The Dots with TANGAN

Hilda Nathalia Raina
6th April 2022
Together with Shadtoto Prasetio Studio, fashion label TANGAN presents a collaborative collection, ‘Connect The Dots’, where the two disciplines merge their multi-styling signature and eye for visuals to unveil a limited-edition everyday jacket.

Between different disciplines and influences, there’s a middle ground of shared values and experiences. For fashion label TANGAN and longtime collaborator and creative studio Shadtoto Prasetio Studio, their collection ‘Connect The Dots’ seeks to reflect that.

“In a way, this project is a response to the transitional time we’re in. We saw the urgency of cross-industry collaborations and wanted to create something that can really be a meeting point for experimentation and functionality, while still incorporating TANGAN’s code of multi-styling features,” explained Zico Halim, co-founder and designer of TANGAN. 

With this in mind, they’ve released a collaborative project that bridges elements of their design and visuals into a limited-edition jacket drop. Utilising TANGAN’s existing language of cut manipulations and multi-styling, along with Shadtoto Prasetio’s eye for visuals, the collaboration stretches the limits of a singular form even further, offering more than 30 different styling options suited and adaptable to be an everyday piece.

Considering both style and function, the jacket is reversible. The inner features panels of textured, quilted paisley outlined with a thin indigo band, while the outer is absent of any embellishments, leaving a clean jet black surface with multi-styling and layered pockets deep enough to fit the essentials of a “hybrid creative worker”, be it sketchbooks or cameras. Unspecific to one gender, the design slides between masculine and femininity through form, texture and silhouette. 

Not neglecting the small details, functions are built to meet day-to-day demands. Sleeves are detachable, all the way through or just enough to achieve an off-the-shoulder effect; a drawstring waist gives the option of a cinched silhouette; collars and pocket flaps can be styled multi-way and are detachable, the latter free to reattach on the opposite side. An adjustable strap on the backside also doubles as a belt that allows the wearer to sling the jacket as a ‘backpack’, ideal for when the jacket gets too warm.

Launching with an exhibition at TANGAN’s studio in Grand Wijaya Center, three pieces are hung at the centre of the dim-lit room, displaying versions of the jacket that revealed the inner and outer side as well as one detached of sleeves. Lightly illuminated by the backdrop of visual projections by Shadtoto Prasetio, the pieces are surrounded by floating red acrylic discs, which gently coat the jackets with their shade.

“To us, Connect The Dots helped us pull together our elements, giving us a platform to evolve and experiment in areas that we’re yet or unlikely to explore without this collaboration,” shared Prasetio. Reflective of the shifting time, the release makes note that cross collaborations are what has and will continue to move the creative industry forward.