A life of fashion and good friends<\/p>\n
Bruce Emond, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
It was 1968, the country was slowly returning to normalcy
\nafter the turmoil of the previous three years and designer Peter
\nSie took time to survey the fashion landscape around him.<\/p>\n
He had every reason to feel pleased about his own success. He
\nwas famous as the first designer to bring haute couture to the
\ncountry, and also the first male Indonesian to overcome stigma
\nand stereotypes to make his mark in designing women's wear.<\/p>\n
But he was not pleased by what he saw around him. He felt
\nalone.<\/p>\n
\"I felt like I was standing in the middle of this vast, barren
\npiece of land, all by myself, with not one fashion photographer
\nor fashion writer around,\" Peter said on Tuesday at his home in
\nTebet, South Jakarta.<\/p>\n
He put his feelings down in a short article in the daily
\nKompas.<\/p>\n
Gradually, the landscape changed for the better. Despite all
\nits negatives, the Soeharto years brought development and an
\nattendant appreciation of fashion, once only for the elite, to
\nthe public at large. Women's magazine Femina began its Young
\nDesigners Contest (Peter was part of the jury for the first 11
\nyears), which has proved to be the launching pad for the careers
\nof many budding designers.<\/p>\n
Today, at the age of 72 and with his autobiography Mode adalah
\nHidupku (Fashion is My Life) in bookstores, Peter is not alone
\nanymore. Fashion designers are respected, and some, like Oscar
\nLawalata, have emerged as stars of pop culture.<\/p>\n
He says he is \"proud\" of the accomplishments of young
\nIndonesian designers such as Biyan and Sebastian Gunawan, the
\nlatter's elegant evening wear reminiscent of Peter's own
\nChristian Dior-inspired designs of the 1950s and 1960s.<\/p>\n
\"There are so many good designers now, they are so talented,
\nit makes me proud ... From Biyan, who has started exporting his
\nclothes, to Ghea (Panggabean) and Carmanita and Sebastian ... I
\nthink Sebastian is so talented, really special. I look at some of
\nhis designs and think, 'I wish I had designed that.'\"<\/p>\n
Of course, there are the \"what ifs?\", like what would Peter
\nhave accomplished if he was coming of age today, in a more
\ntolerant and appreciative era. Inevitably, as a pioneer he laid
\nthe path for others to reap the benefits.<\/p>\n
He admits that he sometimes has that same \"crazy notion\", but
\nonly fleetingly, choosing instead to focus on what he can do to
\nhelp his young colleagues in their careers.<\/p>\n
\"When the Femina contest started, I saw some of the young
\ndesigners were really gifted at making sketches, but there were
\nshortcomings, the clothes themselves were lacking, the finishing
\nor stitching was poor,\" he said.<\/p>\n
\"I told (Femina chief) Pia Alisyahbana to send them to me in
\nthe three months before the show, and I would help them to get
\nthings right.\"<\/p>\n
Peter has thus been both a pioneer and also, I venture,
\nsomething of a \"midwife\" in being there to smoothen the process
\nfor others' careers to come to fruition.<\/p>\n
\"I've never thought about it that way, but, yes, perhaps
\nyou're right. I did try to do my part for others.\"<\/p>\n
An admitted rascal of a child, Peter remembers being
\ntransfixed by the sight of a kindly neighbor, Mak Uwek, toiling
\naway at her sewing machine.<\/p>\n
\"I was fascinated by the sewing machine and how it worked, how
\nthe sewing was done. But, of course, it was always, 'go away, go
\naway, this is not for little boys' ... That was my awakening but
\nI pushed it back, pushed it back, because I could not discuss it
\nwith my friends, no boys did things like that.\"<\/p>\n
He found another escape at the movie theater, watching the
\nparade of Hollywood fashion on movie stars like Bette Davis,
\nVivien Leigh, Lana Turner and the 1930s' teen idol Deanna Durbin.<\/p>\n
\"Privately, I wondered how do you come around to making these
\nbeautiful dresses, and then I did.\"<\/p>\n
His secret love of fashion was allowed to blossom when his
\nolder sister and brother-in-law decided to move to the
\nNetherlands and invited him to join them. In a Europe slowly
\nstirring from the austerity of the grim years of World War II,
\nPeter chose to pursue his interest in fashion, although he
\nremained within society's dictates by choosing to study men's
\ntailoring.<\/p>\n
The debut of Christian Dior's revolutionary \"New Look\" in the
\n1950s, with its elegant and functional lines for women tired of
\nthe same old dresses, changed his mind. He decided that women's
\nfashion was his true calling.<\/p>\n
It was not an easy decision, with the associations of
\neffeminacy and homosexuality for men in the fashion business, but
\nultimately Peter's brother-in-law, Han Yao, supported him as he
\ntook night classes.<\/p>\n
But there were more problems when Peter returned to Jakarta
\nfive years later. No clothesmakers would hire him (\"they looked
\nat me as this strange creature, a man wanting to make women's
\nclothes\") and his family was alarmed by his decision. One uncle
\nscolded him for \"embarrassing\" his family.<\/p>\n
He has told the story of his family's rejection of his
\nprofession countless times over the years, but there is still a
\nwounded quality to his voice. Tellingly, his book is dedicated to
\nhis mother and Han Yao.<\/p>\n
\"He was not only a brother to me, but also a father, the
\nfather I never had. And, I think, on top of that, he was my
\nfriend, because he was my confidante, I could go to him to
\ndiscuss things ... \"<\/p>\n
He may have been hurt, but he is also proud. He decided to
\nopen his own business from his home, and gradually word of mouth
\nspread about the young man who made beautiful dresses. In 1959,
\nat the encouragement of several of his clients, he held his debut
\nfashion show at Hotel Des Indes (now Duta Merlin shopping
\ncomplex). It was a departure from the entertainment spectacles of
\nthe country's usual fashion shows, with the clothes taking center
\nstage this time.<\/p>\n
That pioneering step would have been enough to make him a
\nfootnote in the history of Indonesian fashion. But his talent and
\nmeticulous craftsmanship (fellow designer and friend Iwan Tirta
\naccredits it to his study of the precise details of menswear)
\nbrought him a loyal clientele and an enduring name to this day.<\/p>\n
He also is known as a kind and giving man. He has fostered
\nseveral children (he writes about them in the autobiography) and
\nhas a loyal retinue of long-serving assistants, one of whom,
\nSuzie, watches and listens intently throughout the interview. In
\none of the most touching passages of the autobiography, he tells
\nof returning to look for Mak Uwek several years ago and doing his
\nbest to make her last years comfortable.<\/p>\n
He has devoted friends, people like Iwan and journalist Daisy
\nHadmoko and Myra Sidharta, who cowrote his autobiography, what he
\ncalls \"the family I never had\". He says he is not a rich man, but
\nhe has had a successful career and his peers today gratefully
\nacknowledge his contribution to their industry.<\/p>\n
\"I count my blessings. I think that all these problems that
\nI've had from the beginning have made me strong ... I've wanted
\nto sew the sleeves myself, base the color myself and (my life)
\nhas been valued because of that ... \"<\/p>\n
And he still dreams. He hopes that, one day, Jakarta, with all
\nits talented and productive designers, will be a center for
\nfashion in Asia. Perhaps it will not happen in his lifetime, but
\nif and when it does, Peter Sie will have every reason to be
\nproud.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/a-life-of-fashion-and-good-friends-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}