Kebaya

Javanese kebaya is a sheer blouse worn over batik kemben, as shown here worn by Princess Hayu of Yogyakarta.
Type	Traditional upper garment
Place of origin	Maritime Southeast Asia (Indonesia[1][2][3][4] and Malaysia[3][4][5][6][7][8])
Manufacturer	Javanese and Malay

A kebaya^{[n 1]} is an upper garment traditionally worn by women in Southeast Asia, notably in Brunei,^[9] Indonesia,^[10] Malaysia,^[8] Singapore,^[11] and Southern Thailand.^[12] It is also worn in parts of southern Philippines and Cambodia.^[13][14]

Kebaya is an upper garment opened at the front that is traditionally made from lightweight fabrics such as brocade, cotton, gauze, lace, or voile and sometimes adorned with embroidery. The front is secured with either buttons, pins, or brooches. The lower garment for the outfit is known as sarong, kemben or kain, a long piece of cloth wrapped and tucked around the waist or under the armpits, either made out of batik, ikat, songket or tenun.^{[n 2]}

Kebaya is officially recognised as the national attire and the fashion icon of Indonesia,^[10][15][16] although it is more popularly worn by Javanese, Sundanese, and Balinese people. In Malaysia, Singapore, and Brunei, it is recognized as one of its ethnic attires especially among Malay and Peranakan communities;^{[n 3]} the complete outfit is known in these region as "sarong kebaya".^[6] The styles of sarong kebaya vary from place to place throughout the region.

Kebaya has become a Southeast Asian fashion icon, with many Southeast Asian flag carrier airlines, including Singapore Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, Royal Brunei Airlines, and Garuda Indonesia adopting the traditional clothing as the uniforms for their female flight attendants.^[17]

Etymology

The link between "kebaya" with "qaba" "a vesture",^[18][19] an Arabic term was first established in the Hobson-Jobson dictionary in 1886. The term was used since the seventh century and was ultimately originated from a Persian word meaning "robe of honour".^[20][21] Portuguese records published in the 16th and 17th century also noted variations of the term cabaya^{[n 4]} as a Muslim long robe. The term was then introduced to the Malay world and Java through Portuguese intermediary during the 16th century.^[22][23][24]

According to the Kamus Dewan, a kebaya is defined as a women's long-sleeved dress opened at the front, secured with buttons, pins, or brooches^[25] while the Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia described it as a women's long-sleeved upper garment worn with a long piece of cloth.^[26] Although the etymology of kebaya has its origin as a dress worn by both men and women, the modern definition of kebaya in both languages have been narrowed to only refer to the women's dress.

History

Background

From the Middle East

There are extensive possibilities of the origin of kebaya with most indicating its roots in the Middle East. The connection between kebaya with Arabic qaba, "a long loose jacket" was first established by orientalist Henry Yule and Arthur Burnell in 1886. The Arabic clothing was known since the seventh century, with historical records even mentioned that the Islamic Prophet Muhammad received gifts of aqbiya (plural of qaba) on several occasions. Scholars attributed that Persian is the ultimate origin of qaba. With the spread of Islam, the term and clothing was not only known in Arabic but also in Persian, Turkish and Urdu.^[20] Due to its resemblance, many sources stated that kebaya has its origin from Muslim clothing, namely qaba, habaya, al akibiya al turkiyya and djubba. The claim that kebaya may has its origin from the Arab World is highly possible as Islam was firmly established in the Malay world in the 15th century when women began to cover up in reactions to the Islamic dress code.^[5][8] Before Islam, local women dressed with fewer layers because of the hot and humid climate and the pre-Islamic religion of the Malays did not impose such restrictions.^[27]

From the Indian Subcontinent and Portuguese

The detailed description of cabaya can be seen in the 19th-century Hobson-Jobson dictionary.^[23] The Anglo-Indian dictionary describes cabaya as a word of Asian origin, referring to a surcoat or a long tunic of muslin worn by the Indian upper classes. The term was likely to be introduced into the subcontinent by the Portuguese.^[20] Several Portuguese records published in the 16th and 17th century also noted caba, cabaya and cabaia as a Muslim long robe worn by the ruling class of India as well as the Middle East. The earliest use of the word dates to the 1540s when the Portuguese explorer, Fernão Mendes Pinto visited India. It was also mentioned that the Prince Dharmapala of Kotte was the first to be introduced to the cabaya by the Portuguese, where it was worn by the Portuguese royalty during royal occasions.^[28] Later, King Vimaladharmasuriya of Kandy established it as the upper garment for Sri Lankan royalty signifying the changing of attitudes and loyalty to the Portuguese.^[28] Once Goa was occupied by the Portuguese in 1510, the Portuguese influences extended from the India Subcontinent to the Southeast Asia Archipelago.^[29] The term was then introduced to the archipelago to refer to a light cotton surcoat worn by both European men and women.^[30]

After the capture of Malacca in 1511, the cabaya worn by the Portuguese settlers in Portuguese Malacca (1511–1641) took the fancy of local Malay women, especially in Johore and the east coast of Malay Peninsula.^[4][6][8] It was popularized by the Chinese Peranakan in Malacca.^[9] This perhaps encouraged by their Chinese husbands as this style of clothing was considered appropriate and not that different from Chinese style clothing.^[27] The Malaccan-Portuguese explorer, Manuel Godinho de Erédia, even suggests that the wearing of cabayas (plural of cabaya) were brought to Southeast Asia by Arab and Egyptian merchants as early as 1618.^[5][20][31] Peter Mundy, a British writer who visited Goa in the 1630s, also stated that women in Malacca dressed similar to women in Goa.^[31] The influences of the Portuguese and Indian can be observed by the kebaya worn in Malacca, thus the possibilities that the term "cabaya" and the wearing of the dress was introduced to Malacca by the Portuguese or Portuguese Eurasians from India is higher than by the Arabs or Chinese.^[20][31]

From Malacca and Majapahit

Some sources also stated that kebaya is in fact a "Malay dress", predating the Portuguese arrival in the archipelago. Soon after the Portuguese captured Malacca (1400–1511), kebaya emerged as a favourite among Portuguese settlers that led to the adoption of kebaya as one of their attires.^[8] Historical evidence also suggests that a substantial number of skilled craftsmen were brought by the Portuguese from Malacca to Cochin as early as Afonso de Albuquerque's return to Cochin and Goa in 1512.^[32] In Cochin, the kavaya thuni was introduced by Portuguese Malays and Portuguese Chinese from Malacca and Macau to local Portuguese Indians, many of who were brought there as wives to the Portuguese settlers.^[32][33][34] Besides "kebaya", this style of clothing was also known by the Malays as "baju belah labuh besar" (long baggy dress)^[6][8] and by the Peranakans as "baju panjang" (long tunic).^[31] From Malacca, kebaya made its way to Java, likely to be brought by the Chinese and Portuguese Peranakans^[35][7] and by the 17th century, kebaya was worn by men and women across the Malay Archipelago, even in the Spice Islands further east.^[20]

Some resources also claimed that kebaya originated from Majapahit (1293–1527), as a mean to blend the existing kemben, women torso wrap, to be more modest and acceptable as Islamic influence began to grow in coastal Javanese towns. The kebaya perhaps served to provide body coverage to court women and elites in reactions to Islamic strictures on modesty. When the Portuguese tried to assume spice trade in Indonesia in the early 16th century, some women in Java already wore kebaya on their upper body.^[2] During this time in Java, kebaya was considered as reserved clothing to be worn only by royalty and nobility. Majapahit was the first that formally adopted the kebaya,^[36] and subsequently it has become the official dress of its successors, Cirebon (1445–1926), Surakarta (1745–1946) and Yogyakarta.^[37][38] Nevertheless, the use of kebaya among peasant women in Java only became widespread in the late 18th century when it was encouraged by the Dutch.^[2][7]

Southeast Asia has traded with China, India and the Middle East since the middle of the first millennia, which possibly responsible for the introduction of this style of clothing into the archipelago. Foreign influences have been suggested, such as Chinese Ming tunic worn by the Chinese settlers between the 14th to 16th century,^[5] possibly led to the creation of kebaya in Java and Malacca.^[3] Concurrently, the emergence of kebaya as the traditional attire of the Javanese and Malays originated from the integration of the style of Chinese Ming, the Arab merchants and the Portuguese settlers. Thus, there are various styles of sarong kebaya throughout Southeast Asia with each named after its famous wearer, place of origin or modification.^[3]

Development

Lace kebaya

In the 16th and 17th century, the craft of lacework came to Asia by way of Goa and became popular among the local people of coastal India, Sri Lanka, and Malacca.^[29] In Cocos Islands, the Cocos Malays modified the kebaya with European inspired elements especially the frill collar because textiles and clothes were brought by the Clunies-Ross family during the early 19th century.^[39] By the mid-19th century, wearing an outfit consisting of a white lace ornamented kebaya and a lavish batik sarong was regarded as a privilege of the European and Eurasian women in the Dutch East Indies^{[n 5]}.^[29]

In 1872, the Dutch administration issued a rule which required every resident of the colony to wear their ethnic clothing in public areas. The ordinance perhaps served as an effort to differentiate one individual from the others and identify someone of a specific ethnic group. From 1872 until 1920, kebaya had been adopted as the preferred women's attire of the Dutch East Indies, either worn by native women, European and Eurasians.^[40][41]

During this colonial period, the Dutch kebaya flourished in the Dutch East Indies, often using luxurious fabric embellished with imported white lace since it can block the tropics' hot air. On February 10, 1910, the colonial government issued a regulation for the Chinese Peranakan, an "equalization" that led the wealthy Peranakan women to wear kebaya and batik sarong similar to the Dutch and Indo women's. Thus, the Peranakan women began to wear white lace kebaya while the European and Eurasian women who used to prefer this style of kebaya started to shift to European clothing.^[29][40][31]

By the early 20th century, the long kebaya^{[n 6]} has evolved and the new "short kebaya", shaped and length above the hip emerged in various colonial centres, mainly in Java and the Straits Settlements^{[n 7]}. During this time, long kebaya was seen as conservative and staid, worn only by the elderly women of the Peranakan community. As an option, the young Peranakans began to modify the form of a long kebaya and turned it into a short kebaya that the Europeans and Eurasians had adopted earlier.^[42] The Peranakans would often recycle the fabrics of their long kebayas into short kebayas.^[27]

The short kebaya worn by Peranakan is a tighter-fitting sheer blouse as opposed to the loose-fitting, knee-length tunic of its predecessor.^[27][40] The earliest example of a short kebaya worn by the community is the lace kebaya^{[n 8]}.^[27][40] This style is noted with the outstanding use of popular European lace to trim along the front opening hems and sleeves. Similar to a long kebaya, it has no buttons and needs to be fastened with pins or brooches. Even though lace kebaya has existed since at least the early 19th century, worn primarily by the Europeans and Eurasians, but it was only a century later, the Peranakan women began to wear this type of kebaya.

Cutwork kebaya

Further transformation of kebaya can also be attributed to European influences.^[27] By the 1910s, the base materials for kebaya began to change from fine white cotton to bright and transparent fabrics such as voile and organdie imported from France and Switzerland. By the 1920s, the German organdie and colourful printed voiles became popular. Through the introduction of European fabrics, kebaya became increasingly luxurious and glamorous while the sarong overflowed with vivid colours. By the 1930s, the kebaya turned to be more colourful, decorated with cutwork, suitable for local ethnic taste.

By the late 1930s, the lace kebaya then evolved to cutwork kebaya with decorated scallops and cutwork embroidery at the edge^{[n 9]} as the technological growth began to introduce fabric stencil sewing machines. The widespread use of sewing machines did not only speed up the embroidery process but also opened up more kebaya design possibilities.^[31] This kebaya style is made by perforating the edging of the kebaya at the front, embroidering it with colourful threads to make it look like lace. It is considered the first kebaya to feature embroidery, an upgraded version of lace kebaya.^[27]

Embroidered kebaya

By the late 1940s, the cutwork kebaya then evolved to embroidered kebaya,^{[n 10]} the quintessential Nyonya kebaya that is very popular until today.^[40] The embroidered kebaya is made of plain voile or gauze instead of the printed fabrics of a long kebaya. This style of kebaya stands out for its exquisite stencil that highlighted the beautiful colours of the blouse,^[42][40] with famous designs include floral, figural and geometric motifs.^[31] This style of kebaya started to appear widespread during World War I as the rise in the price of lace led to the adoption of machine embroidery.^[29]

Although Peranakan kebaya has Javanese and Malay roots, it has evolved into a Peranakan community's distinctive outfit. The development of embroidered kebaya is regarded as a Peranakan identity.^[42] The use of sarong kebaya in other Peranakan communities, namely Chetti Melaka, Jawi Pekan and Kristang also shows the influence of the Chinese Peranakans which had started to wear the outfit much earlier in the 1920s and 1930s. Nevertheless, there are some slight differences between the kebaya worn by each community.^[43][44]

Independence

Brunei

There are four types of kebaya worn by women in Brunei, namely kebaya panjang, kebaya labuh, kebaya pendek and kebaya Bandung. Most of the material used for kebaya panjang and kebaya labuh is imported either from Malaysia, Singapore or Indonesia. In contrast with the first two styles, kebaya pendek and kebaya Bandung were introduced to Bruneian much later in the early 1950s, and were popular during the 1960s and 1970s.^[9]

Indonesia

During the colonial time up to the earlier times of the republic, kebaya was the Indonesian women's everyday dress in various regions. The wardrobe collections of elderly Indonesian always included kebaya as daily wear.^[16] After Indonesian independence from the Dutch, Sukarno, Indonesia's first president appointed kebaya as a national attire of Indonesia.^[45] Kebaya as the national attire was often featured by Indonesian first ladies, notably Fatmawati and Dewi Sukarno, the wives of Sukarno. Nevertheless, the more democratic consensus of kebaya as the national attire took place in Jakarta, decades later in 1978, where kebaya was selected among four candidates.

Malaysia and Singapore

In contrast with the long kebaya, the short kebaya has been popular in Malaysia since 1920. The short kebaya does not only refer to the Nyonya kebaya, but it is also used to refer to other short kebayas like kebaya Bandung and kebaya Kota Bharu that appeared around the same era.^[9] Short kebaya generally consists of a figure-hugging blouse and is made to emphasize the shape of the body that is popular among young women, especially in major cities like Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Penang.^[8]

By the late 1990s, during the era where Muslim women began to dress conservatively, kebarung, a new style of clothing that combined the elements of baju kurung and kebaya emerged as its modest look was preferred by the Malays.^[8]

Attire components

The quintessential Javanese kebaya as known today is essentially unchanged as noted by Raffles in 1817.^[46][47] It consists of the blouse (kebaya) with the central opening of the blouse fastened by a central brooch (kerongsang) where the flaps of the blouse meet, wore over a kain, and secured with angkin waist sash. The order of wear is: first undergarments, followed with kain panjang skirt, secured with angkin sash, then the kebaya blouse is worn and usually secured with kerongsang. In Java, a certain hairdo is required in harmony with a traditional kebaya — the konde or sanggul hairbun, either of natural hair, or adding artificial extensions.^[48] The Javanese konde is secured with ornamented tusuk konde hairpin made of gold, silver or iron. The traditional kain kebaya attire with konde hairdo is considered as the epitome of Javanese ladies' elegance.^[49] On the other hand, among the Peranakan communities, the ideal kebaya sulam also includes decorative accessories such as a hairpin (cucuk sanggul), a silver belt for securing the sarong (pending), as well as a pair of beaded slippers (kasut manik).^[42]

Blouse (Kebaya)

The blouse is commonly semi-transparent made from various materials, from cotton or velvet to fine silk, exquisite lace and brocade, decorated with stitching or glittering sequins and can be tailored tight-fitting or loose-fitting. In the Malay populated areas, a plainer and modest knee-length long-sleeved kebaya made out of songket or tenun is more common.

Undergarments (Kemben, Kutang or Baju Dalam)

Traditionally, Javanese women wear kemben while the Nyonya wear baju dalam beneath their kebaya to cover the breasts for modesty reason due to the semi-transparent material of their kebayas.^[27] Today, the undergarment used under kebaya is usually either a corset, bra or camisole. The simpler and more modest undergarment wore by villagers, usually, elderly women, is called kutang, which is a bra-like undergarment made from cotton.

Skirt (Kain or Sarong)

Kain panjang is a long cloth wrapped around the hips, secured with a belt and wore as a kind of sarong or skirt. The kain is an unstitched fabric wrap around three metres long while sarong is a stitched tube-like fabric wrap of the same length. For Javanese, Sundanese and Nyonya kebaya, batik is the most common, which may be from plain stamped cotton to elaborately hand-painted batik tulis embroidered silk with gold thread. In Bali and Malay populated areas, songket, tenun or other kinds of Balinese textiles are commonly used, often of matching fabrics with the blouse.

Sash (Angkin or Stagen)

After the kain panjang is wrapped around the wearer's hips and tied securely with a cloth rope, an additional waist sash akin to a cummerbund is wrapped around on the hips. In Java, this long cloth is known as angkin^[50] — or its modern version might use stagen instead.^[51] Angkin refers to a long sash made of fabric, usually made of jumputan Javanese tie-dye, batik or plain cloth. Stagen refers to an elastic waist band, with embedded rubber, and usually secured with velcro or small hooks. In most of Indonesian kebaya, e.g. Kutu Baru and Javanese kebayas — the sash is always worn beneath the kebaya blouse, thus only visible on the front, while in Balinese kebaya the sash is clearly visible, worn over the kebaya in a similar fashion to the Japanese obi.

Brooch (Kerongsang)

To secure the blouse opening in the front, a decorative metal brooch is applied on the chest. It can be made from iron, brass, silver or gold, decorated with semi-precious stones. A typical three-piece kerongsang is composed of a kerongsang ibu (mother piece) that is larger and heavier than the other two kerongsang anak (child piece). Kerongsang made from gold was considered as the sign of the social status of the royalty and nobility, however for commoners, simple and plain kebaya often only fastened with simple safety pins (peniti). Most of kebaya variants applied kerongsang to secure its front opening. However, certain style of kebaya that uses buttons instead; e.g. Balinese kebaya — usually do not wear any kerongsang.

Belt (Sabuk or Pending)

A kain panjang requires a helper to dress (literally wrap) the wearer and is held in place with a string (tali). The string is then folded at the waist and held with a belt (sabuk or ikat pinggang or pending). Similar to kain, sarong also sometimes requires a helper. A sabuk or pending functions as a belt to fasten the sarong as well as an accessory to the attire. Sabuk refers to "belt" while pending more precisely referred to metal belts made of a chain of metal pieces of silver, gold or brass. This metal belt is seldom used in most of kebaya variants, and is only valid to specific kebaya styles.

Shoes (Selop or Kasut Manik)

In order to complete her sarong kebaya outfit, Nyonya wear a pair of intricate and finely stitched beaded slippers called kasut manik.^[42] The kasut manik are made for two types of occasions. For joyful occasions, such as Sambot Taon, the beaded slippers are made of colourful beads with intricate patterns while for mournful occasions, the beads used are black, white or blue with simpler patterns. This matching beaded slippers are seldom used in most of kebaya variants, only used in specific kebaya style, i.e. the nyonya kebaya. In most of Indonesian kebayas, traditional Javanese selop, which are slippers made of leather or fabrics such as velvet, are commonly used. Modern kebaya uses modern women's shoes with matching colour instead.

Varieties

Variants of Kebaya elements

Collars

In the aspect of the collar or neck cut, there are two main varieties; the V-shaped collar (Javanese, Kartini, Balinese, Malay, Cocos and Encim or Peranakan) and the square-shaped collar (Kutubaru or Kota Bharu). The Riau-Pahang kebaya has a band collar secured with buttons known as "cekak musang" while the Sundanese has a U-shaped collar, similar to the modern kebaya. The modern kebaya also might apply various shapes and curves of collars.

Fabrics

In the aspect of the fabric, the blouse may be of two main forms: transparent or semi-transparent materials of Javanese, Sundanese, Balinese, Cocos and Encim or Peranakan kebaya and the modest non-transparent materials of Kartini, Malay and Riau-Pahang kebaya. The Javanese kebaya is usually made of silk, cotton and velvet, while the Malay kebaya is usually made of locally woven textiles such as songket or tenun.

Cut and fittings

In the cut aspect, two main varieties are; the more tightly tailored Javanese, Sundanese, Balinese, Cocos and Encim or Peranakan kebaya, and the modest loose-fitting kebaya wore by conservative Muslim women. The more Islamic compatible Malay kebaya is a loose-fitting, knee-length long-sleeved blouse wore in the Malay populated areas of Malaya, Sumatra and Borneo.

Varieties in Indonesia

Kartini kebaya

The type of kebaya used by aristocratic Javanese women, especially during the lifetime of Raden Ajeng Kartini, circa 19th century.^[52] Often the term "Javanese kebaya" is synonymous with the kebaya Kartini, although slightly different. Kebaya Kartini usually made from a fine but non-transparent fabrics, and white is a favoured colour. Basic Kebaya Kartini might be plain. The adornment is quite minimal, only stitching or applied laces along the edges. The V-shaped collar cut of this type of kebaya is quite similar to the Peranakan Encim kebaya, however it is distinguishes by its distinctive fold on the chest. Another feature of the Kartini kebaya is the length of the kebaya that covers the hips, and the collar folds with a vertical line shape, which creates the tall and slender impression of the wearer.^[53] The Kartini-style kebaya inspired the cut and style of Garuda Indonesia's flight attendants' uniform.

Kutubaru kebaya

The basic form of Kutubaru kebaya is quite similar to other types of kebaya.^[52] What distinguishes it is the additional fabric called bef to connect the left and right side of the kebaya in the chest and abdomen. This create a square or rectangle shaped collar. This type of kebaya was meant to recreate the look of unsecured kebaya wore over matching kemben (torso wrap) undergarment. Kebaya Kutubaru is believed to be originated from Central Java.^[45] Usually to wear this type of kebaya, stagen (cloth wrapped around the stomach), or rubber-enforced black corset is worn under the kebaya, thus the wearer will look more slender.^[53]

Javanese kebaya

This type of kebaya from Java has a simple shape with a V-neck. This straight and simple cut gives an impression of simple elegance. Usually a Javanese kebaya is made of semi-transparent fine fabric patterned with floral stitching or embroidery, sometimes adorned with sequins. Other fabrics might be used, including cotton, brocade, silk and velvet. The semi-transparent kebaya is worn over matching underwear, either corset, bra or camisole.^[53]

Keraton or Solo kebaya

Keraton kebaya also known as Solo kebaya,^[54] is an aristocratic kebaya typically worn by noble women of the court of Surakarta Hadiningrat kingdom of the Solo city in Central Java. Despite popularly being called as Solo (Surakarta) kebaya, this type of kebaya is actually also commonly worn as aristocratic dress for noble ladies in neighboring Javanese courts, including Yogyakarta, Pakualaman and Mangkunegaran.

Solo kebaya usually use dark coloured fabrics, with black velvet as the most favoured material. The edge around the sleeves and along the collar up to the front opening and bottom edges are decorated with golden or silver beads and sequins. The cut of Solo kebaya is longer than common Javanese kebaya, usually up to the knee of the wearer. Solo kebaya is known for its elegance, and usually used for Javanese Solo Putri style wedding dress.^[55]

Sundanese kebaya

Tight-fitting brocade Sundanese kebaya allows more freedom in design, and much applied in modern kebaya and wedding kebaya in Indonesia. The semi-transparent fabrics is patterned with floral stitching or embroidery. The main difference with other kebaya style is the U collar neckline, often applying broad curves to cover shoulders and chest. Another difference is the extra long lower parts of kebaya, with hanging edges which covers hips and thigh. Furthermore, they are known to very colourful and brightly coloured. The contemporary wedding kebaya dress even has sweeping long train. Historically, the Sundanese kebaya is separated into 3 different categories based on a person's social standing: the aristocrats, middle class workers, and the commoners, where they each have their own stylistic conventions that would have been followed by members of the class.^[56]

Bandung kebayaedit

This kebaya design originated from the city of Bandung in the 1950s. The distinctive feature of this kebaya is the kerah setali (shawl collar) that folds up to the chest. The cut is also unique in that the back is shorter than the front. The Bandung kebaya design is a very short kebaya with a length only up to the waist or a few centimetres below the waist, exposing the curved hips of the wearer. This rather daring design was meant for young maiden and considered as one of the most chic kebaya variant. It is often applied in modern kebaya fashion, unorthodoxly combined with tight kain sarong, pants or short skirts. Kebaya Bandung usually uses a shawl collar that forms a V-neckline with a slit on the front secured with buttons. The material used for the Bandung Kebaya is brocade combined with a long batik cloth.^[54][57]

Balinese kebayaedit

Balinese kebaya is quite similar to Javanese kebaya, but slightly different. The Balinese kebaya usually has V neck line with folded collar sometimes decorated with laces. They are usually tight-fitting made with colorful semi-transparent or plain fabrics either cotton or brocade, patterned with floral stitching or embroidery. Unlike traditional Javanese kebaya, Balinese kebaya might add buttons in the front opening, and kerongsang brooch is seldom used. The main difference is Balinese kebaya add obi-like sash upon kebaya, wrap around the waist.^[53]

The Balinese kebaya is part of busana adat or customary dress, Balinese women are required to wear kebaya during Balinese Hindu rituals and ceremony in pura. White kebaya are favoured for Balinese religious rituals. Other than religious ceremony, contemporary Balinese women also often wear kebaya for their daily activities. Because most Balinese people are Hindus, the Balinese kebaya usually has shorter sleeves compared to Javanese kebaya.

Madurese kebayaedit

Kebaya Madura is the style of kebaya from the island of Madura off coast of East Java. It is also known as kebaya rancongan, it has a characteristic on the neck collar in the V shape. In addition, this kebaya is also equipped with jewelry to cover the neck and chest. The length of this kebaya is only up to the waist and tapers at the bottom. Kebaya Madura shows the curves of wearer's body, to create elegant silhouette.^[58]

Malay or Labuh kebayaedit

Kebaya Labuh is a style of Malay kebaya which is quite similar to baju kurung. This type of kebaya used in Sumatra, particularly on Malay-populated provinces, including North Sumatra, Riau, the Riau Islands, Jambi, the Bangka Belitung Islands, and South Sumatra. Kebaya labuh is actually more specifically associated with the Melayu Lingga culture.^[59] The kebaya labuh consists of a loose, knee-length tunic and is usually made of semi-transparent fabrics. The central opening of the blouse-dress is usually wrapped by brooches and is traditionally worn with kemban, along with a sarong or songket around the hips.^[17]

Batak kebayaedit

Batak kebaya are variant of kebaya adopted by Batak people of North Sumatra. Traditionally Batak people wear ulos clothes wrapped around their body in similar fashion to Javanese kemben, and also draped around the shoulders. However, kebaya was relatively recent being adopted into Batak culture, mainly owed to national culture of Indonesia that promote the use of kebaya among Indonesians.

The cuts and materials of Batak kebaya is similar to Sundanese kebaya, which is brocade decorated with sequins, with U-shaped neckline and allows freedom in design. The favourite colours for Batak kebaya, especially for weddings are red, white, gold and black. There are three types of Batak kebayas; they are Batak Toba kebaya, Batak Karo kebaya, and Batak Mandailing kebaya.^[60] Batak kebaya usually wore as wedding dress or as formal dress, combined with traditional ulos cloth put around the shoulder, songket skirt, sortali head band of Batak Toba, traditional Karo head dress, or bulang golden crown of Mandailing style.^[61][62]

Ambon kebayaedit

Ambon kebaya refer to a type of kebaya being used in Eastern Indonesia, especially associated with Ambon city of Maluku Islands.^[63] During colonial times of VOC rules, the prevalence of kebaya in Dutch East Indies has led to the adoption of kebaya outside of its traditional realms in Java, including the Dutch possessions in Eastern Indonesia, such as in Minahasa and Amboina. Traditionally Ambonese ladies wear baju cele which is simple loose dress with neck hole has only three or four buttons near the front neckline. Ambon kebaya for women has two types; the kebaya putih panjang (long sleeved white kebaya) and kebaya hitam gereja (black church kebaya). Long sleeved white kebaya is made from white brocade with front opening secured either with buttons or golden pins. Black kebaya for church has cuts akin to baju cele shirt, it has long sleeves and made of black brocade, the sarong is also made of black brocade. Ambon kebaya usually worn combined with black cenela slippers with white socks, and the ladies usually also bring lenso laced handkerchief.^[63][64]

Minahasa kebayaedit

Zdroj:https://en.wikipedia.org?pojem=Kebaya
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