TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Peggy Hartanto: Reaching out to America
(Courtesy of Peggy Hartanto/fimela
Change Size
(Courtesy of Peggy Hartanto/fimela.com) (Courtesy of Peggy Hartanto/fimela.com)
(Courtesy of Peggy Hartanto/fimela.com)
With little fanfare, young designer Peggy Arista Hartanto has made her mark in the world of fashion.
The talented designer has quietly gone international with her high-end, ready-to-wear pieces donned by American celebrities.
Her latest piece, her Spring/Summer 2013 Unseen collection, was worn by American actress Odette Annable at the recent Golden Globe Awards after party in Beverly Hills, California.
In the event, Annable looked stunning with an illusion effect on a halter neckline and cut out detail for the top part as well as an additional frock on the black pencil skirt.
The actress, who starred in The Double opposite Richard Gere in 2011, mixed the outfit with a pair of shoes by Giuseppe Zanotti and a Jamie wallet by Tyler Alexandra.
'I'm happy, proud and over the moon,' said 25-year-old Peggy from her workshop in Surabaya, while working to market her latest collection, the Spring/Summer 2014 Quantum collection.
'Having a public figure wear my design to an important event was one of my dreams that has now come true.'
She said she had a brand representative for Peggy Hartanto in a showroom in Los Angeles. The label was born back in 2011 at the Rosemount Australia Fashion Week 2011 in Sydney, Australia.
Her representative, she said, had told her that as they worked with top celebrity stylists, the dress was initially pulled for another famous actress ' but when Annable entered the showroom with her stylist and saw Peggy's dress, she told her
stylist she had to have it.
According to Peggy, it all happened in the space of an hour.
'It was a fashion match made in fashion heaven,' Peggy said, quoting her representative.
For Annable's dress, Peggy was inspired by flower imagery taken by an X-ray shot, which exposes the inside of the flower. The black hair adornment on the waist was inspired by a flower's stamen. Meanwhile, the print at the top part of the dress came from flower petals.
'The sheer nude panel is an incarnation of an 'unseen' concept, which is the big theme for the Spring/Summer 2013 collection,' said Peggy as quoted by a Jakarta Fashion Week bulletin.
Before Annable, Peggy's creations have also been worn by E! and Fashion Police TV show presenter Giuliana Rancic in a Fashion Police episode; actress and model Bella Thorne at a Beyonce concert; as well as actress and singer AJ Michalka at the Grown Ups 2 movie premiere in New York.
Claiming Peggy Hartanto as a brand with extreme cutting that creates a feminine silhouette as its DNA, the artist said she loved to represent bold statements with minimalist presentation.
'I like to play with cutting techniques and material constructions in making designs. The designs are chic, feminine as well as strong in character,' said Peggy, who graduated as the best student in fashion design from the Raffles College of Design and Commerce in Australia in 2009.
Born and raised in Surabaya, Peggy admitted she was picky in terms of choosing materials for her own clothes.
'I studied fashion design in college because I wanted to make my own dresses. I earned my bachelor's degree in fashion design, so becoming a fashion designer was a natural choice after college. I've always had a passion for fashion,' she said.
With full support from her family, the second of four children felt confident enough to set up her own label after organizing her first fashion show at the 2011 Rosemount Australian Fashion Week.
'At that time, I was still working for Australian designer Collete Dinnigan. A good response from fashion week motivated me to set up a ready-to-wear line as soon I returned home,' she says.
The designer ' who looks up to top designers like Alexander McQueen, Ricardo Tisci, Simone Rocha and Dion Lee ' put her achievements down to her team, which she said was the biggest influence on her label's development.
Her Unseen collection was displayed during the 2013 Jakarta Fashion Week and her Spring/Summer 2014 Quantum collection was shown at the Jakarta Fashion Week last year, where she earned a reputation as one of Indonesia's next big things.
Peggy said she did not have any special inspiration but always did in depth research before designing.
For her Spring/Summer 2014 Quantum collection, for example, she conducted research with top students in chemistry, physics and pharmacy as well as doctors of chemistry and physics theories.
'I also researched the aesthetic part, such as on colors, styles and future trends. I processed this information before I translated it into garments,' said Peggy, who is also a fan of Disney movies for their endless creativity in terms of stories and graphics.
Looking ahead, she is determined to expand her market outside Indonesia.
'We're preparing the label to move forward into that [international market],' she says.
