Vintage Spotlight: Indopinups
Hello everyone, I’m Descha from Jakarta, Indonesia. I’m the founder of Indonesian Pinup Community otherwise known as Indopinups.
I have loved vintage style since my early years. Back then, in the ’80s when I was toddler, my Mom styled me like some fashion icons from the ’60s, Twiggy, Mary Quant and sometimes as cute as Shirley Temple. I grew up watching old Hollywood movies like Gone with the Wind, Breakfast at Tiffanys, my favorite Cleopatra, and many more. By then I started to love the Vintage Lifestyle but not Vintage Values.
My style today is pretty much influenced by several iconic Old Hollywood stars and some modern Influencer, such as Janet Rae, Marilyn Monroe, Josephine Baker, Twiggy, Anna Mae Wong, Betty Page, Dita Von Teese, Idda Van Munster, Olga Yakubowitch, Micheline Pitt, Vintage Vandal, Miss Psychocat, oh my gosh, too many to name. And yes the ultimate icon is Dewi Soekarno, she’s a Goddess.
I founded Indopinups on March 27, 2015. I guess in about December 2014, a girl named Emily from Surabaya, Indonesia DM’d me on Instagram. She recognised me from Pinup Paradise and The Pinup Bible posts, and we’ve been friends since then. We met in person and shortly really connected about pinup culture. So I created the Instagram account “Indopinups” to gather more Indonesian girls who love vintage lifestyle.
Luckily for us, someone from the Indonesia Greaser Party contacted us to be part of their event. Some famous Indonesian Rockabilly stars like Jerinx and The Hydrant Bali were also involved, which helped Indopinups gain some followers. They were posting about us several times before the event and, as for The Hydrant, they have us as a cameo on their official video. So yes, April 10-12, 2015 was our first gathering and event. After that event, our community achieved golden moments. Many media, from online to television programs, invited us to be featured. And we got so many sponsors too, back then. Now we have about 9000 followers on Instagram and some active members on our WhatsApp group.
The most horrible moment with Indopinups was when one of the biggest TV shows invited us. They want us to bring our authentic vintage items, so we did. My friend brought her 1940’s dresses and I brought my late grandmother’s legacy bags from the 1960s. And guess what? One of the hosts put the dress on a mannequin and held on to it, so then her makeup made the dress dirty. Plus, they treated my bags like they were not valuable items. They just stacked them roughly with other stuff. Literally rough.
One problem with being a vintage girl is that most people think I’m a cosplayer who dresses up like a pinup, but actually I’m just like this on a daily basis. I just happend to buy or make something that I like and is comfortable to wear, but eventually it always looks retro, with a ’90s touch, I may say. Some people objectify me whenever I post a risque pinup photoshoot, like I’m a porn star or whatever. They have literally harassed me through comments or DM. Some have also bullied me because I have all those beauty items, like stretchmarks and tummy rolls.
After a 2-year hiatus, due to my personal life and everything else in between, last year I finally got back to posting on Indopinups. We also started some challenges that involved some our international pinup friends. Besides gathering Indonesian girls who love vintage fashion and lifetyle, we also maintain friendships with international pinup communities such as Dreamettes Belgian Retro Divas from Belgium and Culture Pinup from France. Hopefully we will gain more and more friends from around the world. We currently have a Zoom Pinup sharing with several girls from around the world too. We love to learn and share about vintage.
I personally would like to thank the owner of Pinup Paradise, Ed O’Neill and the owners of The Pinup Bible, Dano Tanaka and Miss Angel Inez. They supported us and especially myself since the beginning of my pinup modelling until now.
