Authentic Fashion Style from Indonesia (Batik and Kebaya)

Fashion of Indonesia? I used to think that it's batik, batik and batik. Honestly i am quite fond of batik. When I enter a batik store, i can say that every batik has its beauty, all of them are exquisite and I can't decide which one is the worst. Of course, it would took me at least 20 minutes to choose one batik to buy, but really! It's not because all of them are boring. All of them are beautiful and it will cause me a confusion in deciding which batik to choose. The style of batik motif differs significantly in every area, that's why we know Cirebon's batik, Yogyakarta/Solo's batik, Kalimantan's batik, etc. My lecturer had ever worn an unique batik shirt once, he said that it is Irian's batik. It has a cenderawasih (Irian's specific bird species) motif on it, so unique :)

Once i went to Lasem (a kecamatan in Rembang, a city in the eastern part of central java), and I instantly fell in love with Lasem's batik. heir motif are so beautiful and their colors...yeah, their colors are amazing. Not like Yogyakarta's or Solo's batik which are mostly dominated by earth-colored color tone, Lasem's batik always has this colorful, fresh and bold color combination in every one of them. The only thing that makes my love to Lasem's batik broke into pieces was only its price. My favorite fabric costed Rp 300.000,- (about 30 US$). Were you kidding me? So far, I don't have, and have never bought any top costed more than Rp 130.000,- (about 13 US$). Actually the price of Lasem's batik was reasonable in my opinion, because it's a batik tulis (i mean the motif was drawn manually by hand, so do the whole making processes, they were done manually too). The Lasem's batik artist  are using natural colorant too, so the price is higher than other batik from other areas of Indonesia. But Rp.300.000,- for a piece of clothing was still too expensive for me. It's better used as home decoration, not as clothing material because it's so beautiful and expensive. So Lasem's batik...if you'll excuse me, I am going to study and work hard so I can be rich and bring you into my closet. 

A few days ago, I went to a boutique with my friends. Mmm, wait, can I call it a boutique? Actually it's just a little shop who sells and rentals kebaya and suit, the room is not arranged artistically, so let me just call it a shop, okay? We were planning to hire a make-up artist to do some make-up on us for our graduation, which is supposed to be held on August 28th (amin). One of my friend rented a kebaya too. I didn't rent a kebaya because i am planning to wear my mother's kebaya (which is now MY kebaya because she gave it to me) in my graduation. My mother brought the kebaya from Kudus on last thursday. With minimal equipment (a belt) I tried to wear the jarik (long fabric, usually batik or tenun used as long skirt), then I wore the kebaya. I got a little bit too excited and asked my mother to take a picture of me wearing kebaya. As if it wasn't enough, I took a mirror picture of myself like an alay girl I was. 

"Alay Picture" (according to my brother, but let's not focusing on him, haha)

Actually the kebaya I wore in the picture above is older than me. My mother wore it at her wedding, at the ceremony called midodareni (my parent's wedding was based on Javanese tradition). Personally, i really love this kebaya. I think it is kind of romantic to wear my mother's wedding dress (wedding kebaya in this context, LOL).  I have ever worn this kebaya before in my junior and senior year of high school, in Kartini's day celebration. Actually it needs a little adjustment in order to fit petite-me perfectly, but I really like to wear it and I feel comfortable and confident on it. I love its color as well, combination of black and fuschia. I had ever had a wallet with the same color combination too. I think black represents toughness and mystery, but fuschia adds a feminine touch in a right dose, gives it a nice balance. In bahasa Indonesia, I called it berkarakter. Hahaha, what an amateur opinion from a girl who thinks she know many things (sok tahu). 

And since last thursday, i decided that I love kebaya too...it is designed for woman (you don't say Lia?? of course it is -____- ). Haha, i meant that kebaya is gorgeous and elegant..and it suits a woman well. When a woman wearing a set of kebaya, she will walk more gorgeously, watching her every step. Not that I am an activist of female right suppression, but wearing kebaya makes a woman look and act more feminine, and I like it. Not to mention that when a woman wearing kebaya, she will look perfectly-dressed.

"Dress shabbily and they remember the dress; dress impeccably and they remember the woman" - Coco Channel

I ended up renting a more glamorous kebaya for my graduation, as my mother's advice, but I think I will wear my own kebaya for special occasions. So, anyone throw a wedding party? Invite me, if i think my kebaya suits your party, I'll wear it happily, haha :)