On her blog Tiara Lestar is writing about the upcoming launch of Playboy Indonesia and her future career as a ‘nude’ model for that magazine. Let me quote some paragraphs (I suggest you read the whole posting. Quite interesting how she sheds some light on her thoughts about modeling and politics).I respect Playboy as an internationally known publication. Everyone from legendary Marilyn Monroe to Pamela Anderson to Madonna to Cindy Crawford have benefited from their professional relationships with the magazine. I have made a personal decision as a model to also follow that route last year. This decision certainly wasn’t popular in my own country. Heck, it was a huge disappointment for my parents too. I regret that part of it. For that, I am sorry. For my parents who I love very much, and for them alone, I have made another personal decision to not pursue that line of work anymore. Being on the cover of Playboy can be considered peak of any model’s career. As they say, “Been there done that.”
However, I was aware of one thing; I appeared in a country that does not consider Playboy and nudity as taboo. My appearance was never intended for consumption of Indonesia. How many Indonesians do you now read Playboy Spain? My pictures circulating on the internet happened without my being consulted. I do not have rights to those pictures. Not offending my countrymen was one of the criteria of my decision making process in appearing in Playboy Spain.
Tiara, as a ‘cosmopolitan woman of the world‘, you could have known that appearing in Playboy Spain (and Penthouse Holland) would mean that these images could find their way to Indonesia. This is the information age… Everything we say or do is captured somewhere on the web. Once a photo is out there, someone will scan it or rip it of a site and it will never go away and travel the world in a split second. You must have realised this?
Personally I think you should be very proud of the pictures by Adam Yurman and the role you are playing in the path to a perhaps more liberal Indonesia. But it sounds to me a bit like you are backing out on the whole thing? Not so long ago you were honoring Asian-Sirens for our role in all this…
Just my two cents 😉
… and I still think you are a beautiful model! 😉
Agreed on all counts (I’ve told her so myself actually).
I still honor you guys to this day as my favorite boys 🙂
Tiara
Good to hear that Tiara, but your posting really made me wonder! 😉
It is good to know you haven’t forgoten about us. How are things going with your new management team? Any new publications we should know about?
Hey! I didn’t realise Tiara also had a For Women Only blog.
You’re not supposed to tell us guys about that. 😉
Don’t you think we have a lot of female readers too?! 😉
OK..move on..to the next Indonesian Playboy models..I cannot wait until the next Indonesian Playboy models will blow your minds away..and you all thought Tiara was hot..
Well, we ARE waiting…
This is a tough call. At first I thought some of you guys were being a little tough on her. And many of us live in countries where sociatal standards aren’t as tight – and probably take it for granted. But she did make a conscious decision to make a living off of her looks – however ‘artsy’ people want to spin it, that’s what Modeling comes down to. And she did do work for Playboy who is known for nudity. You can’t jump back and forth – at some point you’ll have to make a decision, as difficult, or career limiting, as that might be.
interesting posts. Haven’t been checking back for a while due to work… but i’d like to make a contribution on what i know living in Indonesia, and make a living as a photographer.
Quote from mr. westcoast “You can’t jump back and forth – at some point you’ll have to make a decision, …” what are you exactly referring to? if “jump back and forth” you meant from nude model to fashion model, I agreed. In Indonesia it is hard for models to move from ‘revealing photo sessions’ to ‘fashion-fully-clothes photo sessions’. not a lot of (local) magazines wants to hire models who had done nudes. which is sad. a real sad fact. It’s even hard to find a nude model here… first, it’s still considered taboo (even though i’m sure many wants to do it), second the fear of finding their pictures online.
so, there you have it. sad fact…
note: playboy indonesia will not have nudes in them. it will look more a lifestyle magazine such as MAXIM / FHM (from reliable sources i have)
I really think Playboy should reconsider the whole Indonesia release. Personally I would be against compromising the good old ‘nude’ formula and becoming a MAXIM/FHM copy, just to be able to publish in a Muslim country. Not that there is anything wrong with those magazines, but why imitate them when you have a good formula yourself just to please a nation?
In Indonesia, protesters broke into the lobby of the building housing the Danish embassy and pelted the coat-of-arms outside with eggs.
source: bbc.co.uk
All this fuss about a cartoon. What will happen to the office of Playboy when they publish their first issue in Indonesia? :-\
they EVENTUALLY enjoy it. 🙂 after few protests, riots…
Wanted to share this little conversation I had with Tiara on her blog about Adam Yurman:
Hi Tiara,
As you know I allready posted on Asian Sirens about you being a bit negative (in my opinion) on the whole Playboy issue, but I was wondering about your true feelings on working with Adam and your opinion about the work he shot.
Robin
Tiara answered:
Hi everyone…
Well, hi there mr. Robin! It is nice to see you back on my blog. For those of you who don’t know, Robin is one of the “bosses” at asian-siren site. One of my favorite boys 🙂
Robin, I think I need to address this one question of yours very specifically. Look, Adam Yurman is one of the best photographers in the world. Heck, in my book, he IS the best. Hands down. When it comes to quality of work, I will never ever say any differently when it comes to Adam Yurman.
Everything that I have gone through is a personal learning experience and neither me nor Adam are prepared for it. But I will always respect the quality of pictures he produced.
Now about being “a bit negative” on Playboy Indonesia? I think I am very negative when it comes to Playboy in Indonesia. My personal opinion is that I do not believe that Playboy should be in Indonesia. Period.
But I don’t believe in cencorship and do not believe they should be banned. I do however reserve the right to be very unhappy with their plan to be in my country.
Again, this is just my personal opinion. 😉
Tiara
i love u
Well, there’s an odd username…
😉