Andrew Putra Has No Interest in Dressing by the Rules
He’s bringing Indonesian style into its next chapter, with his own brand, acting chops, and a wardrobe that knows when to break the rules
Andrew Putra knows a good outfit when he sees one. Sometimes it is designer. Sometimes it is vintage. Sometimes, apparently, it is a parking attendant in a faded OshKosh shirt.
The Indonesian fashionFashionThe art and industry of designing, producing, and styling clothing, footwear, accessories, and beauty trends. It reflects cultural influences, personal expression, and evolving styles across seasons and markets.Go to Fashion Glossary creative, content creator, and founder of Gimme has built a reputation as one of Southeast Asia’s best-dressed men, but his approach to style is considerably less precious than the title might suggest.
Based in Jakarta and increasingly moving between fashionFashionThe art and industry of designing, producing, and styling clothing, footwear, accessories, and beauty trends. It reflects cultural influences, personal expression, and evolving styles across seasons and markets.Go to Fashion Glossary, brand-building, and acting, Andrew has made a career out of paying attention to what people actually wear, not simply what fashion says they should wear next.
A good outfit can come from anywhere
This instinct goes back to Indonesia itself. He grew up with a Sundanese mother and Javanese father, surrounded by different cultural references that shaped how he understood clothes and identity. FashionFashionThe art and industry of designing, producing, and styling clothing, footwear, accessories, and beauty trends. It reflects cultural influences, personal expression, and evolving styles across seasons and markets.Go to Fashion Glossary, he says, never needed to be complicated to matter.
“Indonesia taught me that style doesn’t have to be complicated to feel meaningful,” he says. Andrew’s inspirations are often found outside the usual fashionFashionThe art and industry of designing, producing, and styling clothing, footwear, accessories, and beauty trends. It reflects cultural influences, personal expression, and evolving styles across seasons and markets.Go to Fashion Glossary circuit. Friends, strangers, people he happens to pass on the street. Just recently, a parking attendant wearing a faded vintage OshKosh shirt caught his attention and stayed on his mind for the rest of the day.
For him, an encounter like that says more about style than a room full of expensive clothes ever could. “Moments like that inspire me more than luxury or exclusivity ever could,” he says. “For me, style is really about connection and storytelling.”
From the golf course to wherever
It is a philosophy that also explains Gimme, the label Andrew started as a golf project before letting it escape the clubhouse. The name comes from the golfing term for a putt so close to the hole that it is simply given to the player. What began with the straightforward idea of making golf clothes for himself and his friends gradually became something much broader.
“I realized I was more interested in creating pieces people could wear every day, not just on the course,” he says.
Today, Gimme is not a strict fashion category but a place for Andrew to experiment. One collection might be formal, another casual, and another might contain something completely random because, well, why not? The freedom is part of the point. Gimme has become a lifestyle brand without getting trapped by the lifestyle-brand playbook.
Dress like yourself, obviously
Being named among Southeast Asia’s best-dressed men can come with a certain expectation that every outfit should arrive fully formed, preferably with a designer label and a photographer nearby. He takes a different view.
“Honestly, I think being well-dressed has less to do with trends and more to do with self-awareness,” he says.
Andrew’s rule is simple. Clothes should enhance the person wearing them, not become the entire personality. “I think clothes should support your personality, not replace it,” he says. “If an outfit helps you move through the world more confidently, then it’s doing its job.”
There is also a useful test behind that philosophy. “The best outfits are the ones where people notice you before they notice the clothes.”
Know the trend. Then know yourself
It helps explain why Andrew can be curious about fashionFashionThe art and industry of designing, producing, and styling clothing, footwear, accessories, and beauty trends. It reflects cultural influences, personal expression, and evolving styles across seasons and markets.Go to Fashion Glossary without becoming beholden to it. He watches trends, tries them, and is perfectly comfortable deciding they are not for him.
Heavy color blocking, for instance, caught his attention when it began appearing across brands, so he experimented with it. The verdict was fairly quick. It did not feel like him, and it did not feel like Gimme. Rather than force the look, he moved on.
“At the end of the day, I just want to wear things that feel authentic and honest,” he says. For Andrew, staying relevant does not mean constantly reinventing yourself. Sometimes it means knowing when to go back to what already works.
He sees that same confidence taking shape across Southeast Asia’s creative landscape, believing that the region is entering a moment when its creatives are becoming less interested in looking outward for permission. Indonesia, with its deep history of craftsmanship and distinct cultural traditions, offers plenty to build from.
“I think Southeast Asia is entering a really exciting moment because creatives here are no longer looking outward for validation. People are building their own visual language and telling stories that are deeply connected to where they come from.”
The shift is especially visible among younger creatives, who are taking traditional references and pushing them into contemporary fashion and art rather than treating heritage as something that belongs in a museum. He sees more confidence and more willingness to simply make the thing.
More than one way to get dressed
Which makes his own expanding career feel particularly timely. Gimme continues to grow beyond its golf origins, his fashionFashionThe art and industry of designing, producing, and styling clothing, footwear, accessories, and beauty trends. It reflects cultural influences, personal expression, and evolving styles across seasons and markets.Go to Fashion Glossary content keeps his eye trained on the details other people might miss, and recent Indonesian acting projects have opened another lane for him to explore.
Andrew Putra is interested in clothes, sure, but he is even more interested in the people wearing them. His eye gravitates toward wardrobes that feel personal without looking painstakingly put together. The type of style that still leaves room for surprise.
You see it in the way he might spot a parking attendant in a vintage OshKosh shirt and stop to think, that’s good. No moodboard, no trend report, not even a six-step styling formula. Just a good shirt on a good man. And for Andrew, sometimes that is more than enough.
As seen in the pages of VMAN SEA 06: now available for purchase!
Production and special thanks Rafchie Cannov, Siti Zaila, Arsyi, and Jessica Miela
Frequently Asked Questions
Andrew Putra is an Indonesian fashion content creator, creative, and founder of the lifestyle brand Gimme. He is also expanding his career into acting through recent Indonesian projects.
Andrew is known for a personal approach to style that prioritizes self-awareness and authenticity over trends or expensive labels. He believes the best clothes support your personality rather than overpower it.
Gimme is a lifestyle brand founded by Andrew that originally started as a golf label. It has since evolved into a more open-ended brand featuring formal, casual, and unexpected pieces designed for everyday life.
Andrew draws inspiration from Indonesian culture, his Sundanese and Javanese heritage, and everyday people he encounters in Jakarta. He says street style and ordinary moments often inspire him more than high-end fashion.
Andrew believes Southeast Asian creatives are increasingly developing their own visual language instead of looking outward for validation. He sees Indonesia’s craftsmanship and cultural traditions as important foundations for contemporary fashion and art.
