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Anne Avantie: Contemporary kebaya pioneer
The kebaya, Indonesia’s iconic long-sleeved blouse, has turned Anne Avantie into a revered designer renowned for going beyond classical norms and offering fresh lines of garments
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he kebaya, Indonesia’s iconic long-sleeved blouse, has turned Anne Avantie into a revered designer renowned for going beyond classical norms and offering fresh lines of garments.
Her elegant and glittering fashion shows have attracted swarms of celebrities, officials and high-class socialites.
In the middle of May, the Indonesian Museum of Records (Muri) listed the 57-year-old designer as a contemporary kebaya pioneer.
JP/Ganug Nugroho Adi
The designs she has introduced are more than just current versions of the classical kebaya. In Anne’s hands, the traditional and unfashionable kebaya is transformed into a glamorous and expensive garment.
Traditionalists once criticized her for departing from kebaya standards and removing its long-inherited sacred values.
“I can’t ruin what I love myself. But I don’t want to argue. I’m only convinced the products will speak for themselves when they’re meaningful to many people,” said Anne, who was preparing her show, “Anne, Love and Friends”, held at the Kasunanan Court of Surakarta on May 27.
Born in Semarang, Central Java, Anne described her designing skill as a miracle.
“So far, with 22 years’ experience I’ve never attended fashion school or drawn, cut and sewn patterns myself, “ said the recipient of the 2004 Kartini Award.
The designer went through many ups and downs while building her career. She inherited some of her talent from her mother, Amie Indriati, a stage costume designer in Surakarta, Central Java. Her father, Harry Alexander, worked in the car accessories business. When her parents separated, Anne chose to live with her mother.
As a child, Anne used to help her mother arrange flower motifs and sequins on her designs, which apparently served as a small lesson that would later be very useful to her.
While in junior high school, she designed costumes for the school choir. Anne also earned money making ribbon-adorned hairpins, which her schoolmates took an instant liking to. After junior high school, she started designing dance costumes and hiring them to dance studios.
Anne married young, at 19. Her first marriage failed, forcing her onto the streets to support her child, selling fruit snacks to school canteens and producing cassava chips.
“While selling food, I also designed costumes for an unknown dance group in Semarang,” recalled the woman born in 1954.
After meeting Joseph Henry, her present spouse, Anne started a souvenir business selling wallets, key rings and other memorabilia. As this business wasn’t promising, she turned to dressmaking instead.
With two used sewing machines stored in her garage, Anne opened a dressmaking boutique to make dance and stage costumes. The small fashion shop called “Griya Busana Permata Sari” later secured costume orders from a national dance troupe, Andromedys Dance.
“I was worried I might disappoint the group, but when the costumes were ready, Andromedys was satisfied. Orders came thick and fast from then on and I began to join shows in Semarang. I would feel happy when I saw Griya Busana Permata Sari banners in display rooms, although they were only small events,” said the mother of young designer Intan Avantie.
Anne was recognized as a top couture designer when Putri Indonesia 1996 (a version of Miss Indonesia), Alya Rohali, wore the kebaya she designed in a fashion extravaganza in Jakarta in 2001.
She then focused on kebaya after previously designing evening gowns and party dresses. Her fame further rose as she designed the kebaya for Putri Indonesia 2004, Artika Sari Devi, in the Miss Universe beauty pageant.
“Within the kebaya is the soul of a woman. It’s delicate but firm. Though indeed very personal,” said Anne, who was named Favorite Designer by a national fashion magazine in 2004.
Now Anne Avantie has become a familiar figure and even a kebaya icon in the fashion world.
After her over 20 years of grueling journey of creativity, the lady frequently called bunda (mother) has finally made her childhood dream come true: to become a top designer creating remarkable works.
“I’m considering moving away from fashion. I want to devote myself to something more important than worldly affairs,” said the designer who spends many hours traveling back and forth between Semarang and Jakarta by train.
Since 2003, the mother of three has also looked after Wisma Kasih Bunda, a shelter for hydrocephalus patients. Hydrocephalus, also known as “water on the brain”, is a medical condition in which there is an abnormal accumulation of fluid in the brain. In this house, patients are given free services before and after surgery at the Elizabeth Hospital, Semarang.
“I feel this is where I really live, a long way from the hustle and bustle of glitzy festivals. The hydrocephalic children make me peaceful. I feel I have to take care of them, hopefully until the end of this life,” added the woman, who idolizes Mother Theresa.
Anne has sufficiently enjoyed her success in fashion designing. “I have to stop one of my two occupations. I wish to look after the hydrocephalic babies while I’m strong enough.”
Anne is developing Wisma Kasih Bunda into a clinic. When it was initially set up, the house was only meant for hydrocephalic patients. But in the last few years the shelter has also welcomed children with tumor and cleft lips.
“God continues to help me, blessing me with endowments, so I’ve got to return the blessings.”
