ARNOLD PUTRA

Indonesian fashion provocateur, in Versace.

Arnold Putra describes himself as a fashion designer, but he’s fast becoming far more than that. His Instagram account is packed with photos from different locations of him wearing eccentric outfits that reflect his edgy and provocative personality. In one post from Ethiopia, he wears a white outfit and a massive cross, surrounded by orthodox priests and pilgrims during the Meskel Festival, which celebrates the discovery of the True Cross (the remnants of the actual cross on which Christ was crucified). In another post, he appears with sadhus, or religious ascetics, in India during a holy event in the river Ganges. There’s also a post in which he hangs out with Grab drivers wearing a Grab jacket, possibly borrowed from one of the drivers, and worn in contrast to a pair of Balenciaga boots. “Although fashion design has been one of my more notable media,” he says, “I think that the things I have been creatively working on recently fall more into costume, film, music and the curation of spaces.” Asked whether his travel around the world has influenced his creative output, Arnold answers: “Maybe it has, subconsciously, but I would say that it’s the other way round. Travelling is the output of months of research, pitching to journalists, Google translating my way around forums, and finding the links to significant figures of a subculture and counterculture.” As for his underlying business belief, Arnold responds in typical form: “If a man does not have ‘sauce,’ then he is lost, but the same man can get lost in the sauce.”