Harper\'s bazaar Malysia September 2018

HARPER’S BAZAAR SEPTEMBER 2018 221

P

eng Lee and I have thrown her wardrobe

inside-out and upside-down. We are combing

through packed rows of designer ready-to-wear

that fall between fashion and vintage, organised

in boutique-style glass cabinets, looking for the

final look that perfectly encapsulates her style.

The air conditioning has gone incognito on this

humid Friday morning, and there are gladiator

heels, leather corset belts, and pants of all cuts

and colours strewn across the floor, as we scurry about trying to find the

right accessories, to which she offers her Patek Philippe watch. “That’s

the only accessory I wear,” she says, ironically, and almost apologetically.

“That, and a fine gold chain.” We finally settle on a Dries Van Noten

tank—“My husband calls it an overpriced Pagoda T-shirt, but there is

a difference,” she says like a true fashion person—worn with Rachel

Comey slouchy jeans, a military belt, and her signature Chanel Autumn/

Winter ’18-approved messy bun, accentuated with her too-cool-for-

school demeanour. We rush down to the garden, where her 6-year-old

daughter Aerin Lee is

running through the

Caesalpinia trees with

her French bulldog Tofu,

ready for the picture-

perfect shot. Peng eases

into her Marni sandals

and throws on a textured

Dries Van Noten

rainbow vest, which

Tofu starts chewing at as

we click away ...

This could be a day

in the life of Peng Lee,

former fashion industry

professional, who has

worked the spectrum

from Jimmy Choo to

Fendi, Louis Vuitton

to Cartier, with the

bursting wardrobe and

sample-size silhouette to

show for it. “Sometimes,

I don’t know where to

start, so I just pull out a T-shirt and

jeans before I head out,” she jokes.

Peng’s fashion pursuit started when

she joined Fendi as store manager,

just as the brand was going through a

change in direction. “I started out with

Fendi when we were moving away from

the logos and focusing more on the

handcrafted Selleria collection, furs,

and exotic skins,” she says. Peng was

selling the “Fendi dream” while doing

what she calls “an MBA” in luxury

fashion. “The architecture and interiors

were also going through an image

change globally; it was so exciting to

be a part of that whole process,” she

muses. That was almost 15 years ago,

and Peng’s fascination for the industry remains. “Fashion recycles

itself. I’ve held on to pieces from Ann Demeulemeester and Dries

Van Noten, bought before my 20s, and still relevant today.” she

says, also recalling the iconic Yves Saint Laurent by Tom Ford

peasant blouse from Autumn/Winter ’02 that she recently wore

to a BAZAAR Power Lunch. “Not many people understand

this obsession I have with ready-to-wear. But fashion is art; both

visually evoke emotions in the same way.”

Peng developed her effortless cool when she was living in

London in the ’90s. While she wore labels such as Clements

Ribeiro, Vivienne Westwood, and Eley Kishimoto, she also

mixed it up with the fluid tailoring and dark romance of Yohji

Yamamoto and Rick Owens, as her je ne sais quoi is about “never

making anything too perfect”. “I was very into cult-designer

dressing with lots of black and layering, which was the street

style back then,” she recalls. “The fashion scene now has gone full

circle in taking energy from the street, but the difference today is

that it’s all seen through social media.”

Since then Peng has made some tweaks to her style, as a full-

time mother of two and a practitioner of Ashtanga yoga today,

favouring the off hand sensibility of Céline and Rosie Assoulin

for school runs and the occasional flirtatious ruffles from Leal

Daccarett or Johanna Ortiz for nights out.

Volakas marble floors and

a neutral palette make up

Peng’s modern home

Prawn linguine with fresh basil

leaves from the garden

Prints from an old Louis Vuitton campaign

collected during Peng’s time with

Louis Vuitton Malaysia

In the garden with
daughter Aerin and
their pet, Tofu