Jalan Jenderal Sudirman (the Sudirman Road) is a major road in Indonesia's capital, Jakarta.
Named after Indonesia's national hero of the same name, the road that is considered a landmark of post-colonial Indonesia. The road continues to have a prominent importance in the area that is full of skyscrapers for various businesses and corporations, as well as shopping malls.
Public transportations that include buses, a commuter rail system and a rapid transit system are present in this area, doing their duties to disperse the crowd, especially during busy hours and lunch breaks.
Everything was running as usual, until slowly but steadily, a bunch of teenagers started gathering in the area, occupying the roads and the vicinity.
Since Jakarta’s public spaces are open to all, the teens that mostly came from underprivileged backgrounds and low-income family, gather to what then became the 'Citayam Fashion Week'.
What this really means, the teens gather to create viral sensation for self-expression, which is then amplified throughout social media platforms.
The Citayam Fashion Week phenomenon is unique in its own way, as it highlights how a community lives inside a bigger community, and tries to show its existancy by showing their overlooked and underdefined lifestyle.
Throughout the Sudirman Road, where businesses can earn millions to billions of dollars, and white-collar workers are dominant, some of the teens dressed in skimpy jeans and sweaters may look homeless.
The sat and squat freely, listen and watch streams on their phones, take photos and videos, play games, gather and socialize. Some are there to hang out, chat and make friends.
They also sleep on the sidelines, and often lay in the middle of the pavement.
Shoes are even put in the middle of the road.
It all started by Abdul Sofi Allail. Or also known simply as Ale, he works as a marketer and a content creator. Amid his daily routines, which involve visiting the location, he thought of considering the crosswalk a catwalk, in which he dreamt of resembling it to Times Square in New York City, U.S..
Slowly but steadily, more people watched him walk with his European-style clothings, before more were involved in the activity.
Later, the people who popularized it on social media platforms, include Bonge and Jeje Slebew.
"Citayem pesion wik," wrote the account whose video has been watched millions of times.
To some passerby, these groups of teens may look like an eyesore.
In the area that is often crowded with office workers in neat suits typical of workers in elite buildings, teens using cheap clothing bought from local stores and online marketplaces don't really fit.
But when they gather in masses, especially in Dukuh Atas at one of the crosswalks, the place can really turn into a proper "fashion week" event.
This unique event actually changed the way many people view the lifestyle of modern day's teenagers that is powered by social media networks.
On one side, the government in allowing the teens to gather in crowds, allow them to self-express, allowing the rest of the people to realize the existency of those minor communities.
On the other side, this allows the teens to even earn money.
With those youngsters who are mostly Generation Z and some Generation Alpha, are social media users, the Citayam Fashion Week does gather a lot of attention from the media.
And with various posts from the teens going viral, a number of them have landed in endorsement from some local brands.
To those living in the suburban areas, and sometimes in more rural places, visiting one of Jakarta's main road can be considered an experience for the teens.
And this kind of event makes that experience even more memorable.
While the term "Fashion Week" is used, the Citayam Fashion Week doesn't last a week, and continues as teens kept on popularizing this culture.
The name Citayam Fashion Week comes from the fact that many of the teens that made this a viral sensation, came from the Citayam region, in West Java.
At first, they wanted to make the Jakarta's open space like a place for showing off their street fashion or fighting street fashion.
As more teens from more places gather, with many of them remain in the area until late in the evening, they continue to show each other their best fashion.
The huge contrast makes this viral sensation a unique experience to whoever is present.
This viral Citayam Fashion Week phenomenon not only show unique style outfits that are often underestimated by most of the people in the larger Jakarta area, but also shows the uniqueness of teens in trying to utilize the freedom of expression from their style of dress.
The Citayam Fashion Week was so viral that Anies Baswedan, the Governor of Jakarta, at one occasion asked Vincent Piket, the European Union Ambassador to Indonesia and Brunei Darussalam, and Kris Peeters, a Belgian politician of the Christian Democratic and Flemish who is serving as vice-president of the European Investment Bank (EIB) to walk the catwalk at the Dukuh Atas region in Sudirman.
Anies explained that he took advantage of the opportunity after holding a meeting with them, where he discussed investment in the development of public transportation in Jakarta.
It was after the meeting, that Anies invited Piket and Peeter and their entourage to take a public transportation, and then walk through the crosswalk the way the teens did at the CItayam Fashion Week.
"On the sidelines of the visit, I had time to try the catwalk style of SCBD friends in Dukuh Atas," Anies wrote in his photo caption.
Besides the governor, local celebrities have also visited the crosswalk to walk the catwalk.
Among others, also include Mochamad Ridwan Kamil, a politician who serves as the Governor of West Java.
He visited the crosswalk when he was invited by Anies.
The governor walked the crossroad alongside a number of ride-hailing motorcycle riders.
Citayam Fashion Week went so viral, that other places and cities in Indonesia also adopted the idea.
As the dust has all but settled, the event met controversies after controversies.
First, the event, which is done in public spaces and on public roads, is said to disturb the public. Second, the youths of Citayam Fashion Week also found themselves facing the morality police.
Central Jakarta’s Social Agency announced a plan to round up trans women, as well as men who generally behave in an effeminate manner, at the fashion gathering. The agency’s statement came after Vice Governor Ahmad Riza Patria derided "teenage boys proudly dressing up in women’s clothing" when he described forms of disorderly conduct at Citayam Fashion Week.
"We are ready to discipline all waria in Dukuh Atas," said Central Jakarta Social Agency Head Abdul Salam to reporters yesterday, referring to the location of Citayam Fashion Week.
The term "waria" is a portmanteau for the Indonesian words wanita (female) and pria (male), and is prominently used to describe transwomen.
According to Abdul, officials have categorized transwomen as people with social welfare issues.
"They will be admitted to a social house for rehabilitation," he said.
To ensure order, the agency has ordered the deployment of officers to monitor Citayam Fashion Week, and round up what they see as deviant behavior and LGBTQ+ propaganda.
The third issue, the public concerns the widely reported minors smoking, littering, and sleeping on the streets.
A high-profile celebrity was cyberbullied when he announced that he wanted to copyright the term 'Citayam Fashion Week'. He refrained from copyrighting it because of the public backlash.
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