Energetic Poppy Darsono a woman of substance

Energetic Poppy Darsono a woman of substance

By Dini S. Djalal

JAKARTA (JP): Her delicate, finely manicured hands are up in
the air, and her big bright eyes are fluttering as rapidly as the
words she fires. She is a slight, gentle but talkative woman,
this Poppy Darsono, with a small, high-pitched voice which
sometimes cracks in heated dialog.

Look beyond the feminine facade, however, past the meticulous
manners, elegant attire, the dainty pearl-drop earrings, and you
will realize Poppy's voice may be the only thing about her that
cracks.

By any standards, 46-year-old Poppy Darsono -- fashion
designer, cosmetics queen, garment manufacturer and champion of
small business -- is a forceful figure, a successful Indonesian
businesswoman making it on her terms.

Refreshingly, Poppy got to the top by applying to her career
the tenets she follows in her personal life as a yoga
practitioner: moderation, restraint, balance.

Her professional maneuvers are both brave and practical. She
is constantly jetting across the country and continents staging
fashion shows and exhibits, her latest taking place in Vancouver,
San Francisco and Japan.

"I don't expect people to buy the collection. It's not as easy
as that," she says modestly.

In an industry full of egos larger than the catwalks they walk
on, common sense like this is unfortunately all too uncommon.

Parisian savvy

Poppy's fashion career started 27 years ago as a teenage
model for fashion magazines and calenders. "My first job paid Rp
30,000 per photo session, quite a lot of money at the time!" she
recalls.

In 1973, Poppy flew to Paris, initially to study
cinematography. There, Ratna Cartier-Bresson, wife of the famed
French photographer, told her she had "good taste". Intrigued,
Poppy looked into how lucrative the French fashion industry can
be. She enrolled in Esmod fashion school.

She returned home in 1977, brimming with enthusiasm for
traditional fabrics fostered by an acquired Parisian savvy, only
to be sent by the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry
(KADIN) to a trade mission in Dusseldorf, Germany -- her first
fashion show.

"I was lucky because there weren't that many Indonesian
designers at the time," she laughs.

Today, Poppy runs two export factories at Jakarta's Pulogadung
Industrial Estate, which produce garments for Levi's and
Neckermann, among others. She also juggles her dominion over the
Poppy Darsono fashion house, which produces three collections of
uniform wear, batik-based high fashion and custom tailoring, and
Poppy Darsono Cosmetics and Perfumes, production of which is
subcontracted but packaged according to Poppy's orders.

In the works are plans for a nationwide chain of stores called
Batavia, which will carry casualwear and workwear made by
Indonesian designers.

Poppy's entrepreneurial spirit is matched only by her
leadership drive. In addition to being the head of the
Association of Indonesian Fashion Designers and Manufacturers
(APPMI), Poppy is a prominent member of KADIN. Recently, she also
became president director of LaSalle College of Fashion, a
Canadian joint venture she started because, "there are many
talented designers here with weak academic foundations".

Don't let her achievements fool you -- Poppy herself certainly
doesn't. While Indonesia's fashion industry optimistically
envisions Jakarta as Asia's next fashion capital, Poppy knows
that the struggle is far from over.

Chaos

Amid the chaos of last week's Jakarta Fashion Parade, she
discussed with The Jakarta Post the sometimes self-designed
pitfalls local designers face, and what can be done to provide
Indonesian talent the platform it deserves. Surprisingly, Poppy
does not proffer rose-tinted views of the industry, but honest,
reflective answers, balanced by a positivity and determination
that have made her name.

Question: You often hold fashion shows overseas but admit that
it's not to boost sales. What's the point then?

Answer: Of course I don't expect people to buy; customers
won't like your product after only one show. After seeing
enthusiastic audiences, I used to expect sales. But when it comes
to the follow-up, it's not that easy. That's why when people say
they want to open a boutique in Paris, I laugh. Exporting is hard
-- you have to handle quota problems, shipment problems,
administration problems. When I have shows, it's simply to
promote Indonesian textiles.

Q: So you're promoting the entire industry rather than just your
company?

A: Well, I'm still grateful because it boosts my image. But I'm
not ambitious in going international because it's not realistic.
Japanese designers like Kenzo and Hanae Mori, they're successful
because the government helps them. They're aware that creating an
image is a long process, that you have to put Japanese brands in
Vogue every month so consumers get used to Japanese brand names.

All of fashion's big designers had a big push from their
governments. Here, the government is trying, they are inviting
buyers from Nordstrom, but I'm not too enthusiastic because these
stores want high fashion, and honestly, our image abroad is not
yet made.

Q: So, realistically, how many more years of Jakarta Fashion Week
before we get on the map?

A: Look, designers are only part of the tools of the industry.
Then there are suppliers of fabrics, buttons. These are all
businesses that can be developed, but they have to function as
one, they have to be integrated. And we must work with the
Ministry of Industry. Just look at Hong Kong Fashion Week, that's
been going on for 20 years, but they send out invitations a year
before the shows!

Here the organizers gave us one month to prepare for Fashion
Week -- how can you make a good collection in one month? So the
government really has to work, they have to hire professional
event organizers, put the project on open tender to people who
understand how the industry works. Maybe after five years, the
shows will have substance. Now after two years, it's physically a
success but, in principle, not yet. If the shows have substance,
the sponsors will come.

Q: Why did you yourself get involved in fashion?

A: Well, Indonesia then had 160 million people, and I thought, if
only a small percentage of them were interested in fashion, that
is still a big market! So I pursued fashion for my own
satisfaction but also for my country, so I can give jobs. Look,
fashion involves so many people; from cotton farmers, spinners,
weavers, dyeing factories, garment manufacturers, button
manufacturers, embroiderers.

Artificial

Then, once the clothes are made, you have marketing,
advertising people who put the clothes in the magazines and on
the catwalks, giving jobs to photographers and choreographers,
who sometimes make more money than the models! It's this
integration that you don't see. Fashion looks artificial but
actually it's an important business.

Q: Since you're so well-versed in business, some people see you
as a businesswoman rather than as a designer...

A: Of course some designers likes to make me feel like that! But
ask the choreographers, who held the most shows this year, for
Texmaco, Bellini, KADIN. Unfortunately fashion is full of people
with dirty tricks. For me, to be famous is good, but how you
become famous is more important.

Q: How do you see yourself, as a designer or as an entrepreneur?

A: In my life, I have the luck and opportunity to have a few
missions. If I'm in KADIN, my mission is to take care of small
handicraft businesses. I put APPMI in KADIN so they have
opportunities for overseas training. And in KADIN, I can say to
the government, those malls charge in U.S. dollars and how can
small businesses open shops there? If I'm not in KADIN, they
wouldn't listen to me!

If I'm invited to shows as a member of KADIN, I get to sit at
the front. If I come as a designer, I sit at the back! The sad
fact is that designers aren't appreciated here. So it's a synergy
for me. Isn't a designer an entrepreneur anyway? My entire life
is garments and cosmetics!

Q: Which of your businesses are the most profitable?

A: Two years ago, I looked at my garment factories and cringed!
Now, with the monetary crisis, I'm a small queen! Now I want
these factories to expand. And my fashion company is starting to
be good. Before it was just to build an image, like a hobby. I
think the crisis is a blessing; in a recession, the local
industries support the economy. Who gives our workers jobs?
Local industries. It's time for Indonesian products to be bought
by our people, because we can afford it. It's time to for
designers to give supply to that demand, it's time to jump in.

Q: Has being a woman made things more difficult for you as a
designer and in business?

A: No. Our obstacles are traditions, but constitutionally we have
the same rights as men. And actually women can be more powerful
because they are more persevering and exacting. If I have had
problems, it's maybe from other women, women who spend their
lives comfortably dependent, and find independent women
threatening. But these are minor matters, because ultimately what
counts is your own performance.