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The legacy of Indonesia
JP/Niken PrathiviâIn kebaya, I see gracefulness, a very down to earth wisdom and a unique beauty
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JP/Niken Prathivi
'In kebaya, I see gracefulness, a very down to earth wisdom and a unique beauty.' ' Mien R. Uno.
In a 175-page book entitled Kebayaku ' Mien R. Uno (My Kebaya ' Mien R. Uno) written by Debbie S. Suryawan, Mien, the etiquette expert, shares her thoughts, knowledge and private collections of traditional kebaya blouses for Indonesian women.
Raised by mother Siti Koersilah, who always wore kebaya, Mien experienced her first encounter with the blouse at the age of 5.
'I was accustomed to seeing my mother in her kebaya blouses, which were very different from dresses worn by European and Chinese women in Malang,' Mien said in the book, recalling her childhood in a small town in East Java.
Little Mien, who often dressed up in European-styled clothes in her childhood, began to grow a fondness for kebaya, wishing that one day she could wear the blouse.
Mien's wish came true when she and her family moved to Bogor, West Java. In her junior high school years, Mien got her chance to wear kebaya during many celebrative events at Bogor Palace.
She has continued the habit until now, especially with modernized kebaya that are produced by the country's renowned fashion designers.
'We are supposed to be proud of kebaya ' our national blouse, as Japanese women are proud of their kimono, Indians of their sari, Chinese women of their cheongsam, Koreans of their hanbok and Vietnamese women of their ao dai,' she said.
First chapter of the book tells the stories behind kebaya. The book's writer believes that it was president Sukarno, Indonesia's founding father, who promoted the blouse to become a national attire.
Kebaya eventually came to be called a national blouse today because it was born and is found in many places across the country ' in many forms and with many names. Although they look different from each other, their elegant silhouettes are enough to describe Indonesia's colorful cultures.
The book, which quotes Suwati Kartiwa ' a writer of various books about woven Indonesian tenun clothes, says that kebaya's origins in Indonesian history is relatively unknown.
Kebaya may not originally come from Indonesia because most countries in Southeast Asia are also familiar with the blouse under different names, such as kebaya nyonya, kebaya kurong, kebaya sulam and kebaya panjang.
The book mentions standards in the design of Indonesian kebaya that differentiate them from other similar blouses. The standards are, among others, blouses with front openings, which are known as kebaya pendek (short kebaya) and kebaya panjang (long kebaya), and blouses with back openings, which are known as baju kurung.
The second chapter of the book displays collections of Mien's kebaya panjang, kebaya kutubaru and baju kurung as well as a number of modernized kebaya that are made by prominent Indonesian designers such as Edward Hutabarat, Chossy Latu, Didiet Maulana and Anne Avantie.
The final chapter of the book offers readers inspiring styles of kebaya, baju kurung and modernized kebaya, plus a handful of dos and don'ts for wearing them.
