Franka Soeria
{{short description|Indonesian fashion designer and journalist (born 1981)}}
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{{Infobox person
| name = Franka Soeria
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1981|03|13|df=y}}
| birth_place = Jakarta, Indonesia
| alma_mater = National University
| occupation = {{hlist|Fashion designer|journalist}}
| relatives = Titien Sumarni (paternal grandmother)
}}
Franka Soeria (born 13 March 1981) is an Indonesian fashion designer and journalist. She is known as a person behind the emerging number of modest fashion in Indonesia, and as the founder of Think of Fashion. Soeria also founded Modest Fashion Week, a fashion show with traveling events theme, which was held in Istanbul, London, Dubai, Jakarta, and Amsterdam since 2016.
Early life
Soeria was born on 13 March 1981 in Jakarta, Indonesia.{{Cite web |last=Claudia |first=Aristy |date=2021-04-03 |title=Franka Soeria, Penulis Yang Tersasar di Dunia Fesyen |url=https://www.farah.id/read/2021/04/03/6104/franka-soeria-penulis-yang-tersasar-di-dunia-fesyen |url-status=live |access-date=2025-06-20 |website=Farah |language=id}} Her father is an artist.{{Cite news |last=Firafiroh |first=Aulia |date=2021-09-19 |editor-last=Firafiroh |editor-first=Aulia |title=Mengenal Sosok Franka Soeria yang Kenalkan Modest Fashion di Indonesia |url=https://www.kompas.com/parapuan/read/532898432/mengenal-sosok-franka-soeria-yang-kenalkan-modest-fashion-di-indonesia |url-status=live |access-date=2025-06-20 |work=Kompas.com |language=id}} Soeria stated that she wanted to study fashion design, but was hindered by the bankruptcy of her father due to 1997 Asian financial crisis.{{Cite web |date=2021-09-21 |title=Sosok Franka Soeria, Perempuan di Balik Berkembangnya Modest Fashion Indonesia |url=https://www.tribunnews.com/parapuan/2021/09/21/sosok-franka-soeria-perempuan-di-balik-berkembangnya-modest-fashion-indonesia |url-status=live |access-date=2025-06-20 |website=Tribunnews.com |language=id}} Although she could not continue her education to the major she wanted, she had another ability, writing. Seeing her ability, Soeria decided to attend National University, where she majored in English literature.
Personal life
Career
Soeria started her career as a journalist for Nova in 2009. She was trusted to manage fashion desk and also become fashion stylish. Soeria then started to explore knowledge about the fashion world and establish relationships with many famous designers. In 2013, she moved to Turkey, and started her career back as a fashion consultant in modest industry.
Soeria later become the co-founder of Alahijab, a platform for modest fashion in Turkey, which was founded in 2006 as a collaboration with Ozlem Sahin to develop her business. Her relationship with designers in the modest industry at that time expanded, from Africa to United States. She then founded Think of Fashion along with Sahin. The two then created a fashion event with the theme of traveling events that reached major cities in the world called Modest Fashion Week. The fashion show was first held in Istanbul in 2016 and managed to become the spotlight of the world's fashion media with Mercedes-Benz become the sponsor.
For now, Modest Fashion Week created by Soeria is not only held in Turkey, but also in other cities, such as London, Dubai, Jakarta, and Amsterdam.
She also founded Markamarie, a modest fashion aggregator in Southeast Asia with offices in Indonesia and Malaysia, and involved in the creation of the Council of Modest Fashion, Modest Fashion Founders Fund (in collaboration with the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy), Asian Bloggers Academy (with Markamarie Malaysia and Universiti Teknologi MARA), and a humanitarian project called Benang Project (supported by United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees).
Soeria has produced big names in the world of modest fashion, such as Noor Tagouri. She wrote a book during the COVID-19 pandemic entitled Random Thoughts of Franka (2020), which she completed in 2 weeks. Soeria said that the process of writing the book made her feel like she was doing therapy and making peace with her past. She admitted that she used to be a nerd and loved writing and books, and the passion that had been buried because she gave more space to the fashion world has now resurfaced.