Birkins and big hair; cigarettes and coffee; smog and palm trees. Welcome to Jakarta. The big city brat to Bali’s chilled out zen, Jakarta was where big dreams met big bling. It was also my origin story, where three generations of my family settled down since the ‘80s.
A Jakartan at birth and a Singaporean by nurture, I grew up in the best of both worlds. While Singapore is my home base, Jakarta is where the roots of Soeng Signature began - going back to my maternal grandmother. A seamstress to three generations, Mak (grandmother in Indonesian) would make clothes for herself, my parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, sister and myself. While her family were her biggest clients, she had a little black book filled with names of esteemed clients who doted on her to make custom made gowns and/or couture style alterations. Since I was a child, I was always spoiled by choice as she designed dresses for every birthday, wedding and everyday wear. If one request wasn’t enough, she went above and beyond to dress my classmates and I in spider costumes for Anansi and the Spider, a play based on a children’s book, when I was in grade 2. (Singapore American School still has these costumes to this day and I still have the googly eyes and felt fabric sitting in my grandma’s house after 23 years!) Although she couldn’t speak a word of English, we were very close and shared the same birthdays.
After she passed away, she left behind racks of clothes. While some had designer tags on them (think Roberto Cavalli), most of them were her own creations. Sumptuous silk gowns were adorned with rhinestones or beads. Swaths of silk draped over the torso in two contrasting shades of pastel - just like our sign Gemini.
Apart from gowns, Mak’s creations extended to pants, where they were made with the most high quality silk she sourced in Jakarta or Singapore.
Her clothes were anything but basic. They bore style, but they also carried movement. While style and comfort were fundamental, the biggest takeaway I learned from my grandma was to never leave any waste. That meant keeping piles of scrap fabric squirreled away in a closet even if these fabrics were vintage! Rather than leave them to waste, I repurposed them into a dress like the Margaretha dress (our upcoming design!) or a scarf.
Margaretha Dress
Long before I understood/knew what sustainability was, Mak knew that fast fashion was not the way of production since her youth. She would rather straighten askew stitches than to leave a hemline with poorly done stitching. While most fabrics at fast fashion shops feel flimsy and tear easily nowadays, Mak would have never dared to buy one. Although she bought plenty of mesh fabrics (which we will use in our future collections!) during her lifetime, Mak vetted the quality before buying a roll or two.
Upcycled Emanuel Ungaro Leopard Print Scarf
As the only grandchild who learned how to sew from Mak, I am grateful to have experienced her creations and learn her process of making a dress despite being a fast fashion shopper in my teens. Given that most millenials of my generation would have settled for a corporate job, I always knew that it was my calling to come back to my roots to start this company and name it after Mak, whose maiden name was Soeng.