The kebaya, a traditional women's garment, has been recognized as a cultural heritage for centuries in few Southeast Asia country. Despite the surge of modern fashion trends, this traditional clothing has retained its unique charm and continues to be a popular choice.
On December 4, UNESCO recognized the kebaya as a Southeast Asian intangible cultural heritage. This collaborative effort was led by Singapore, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand.
Even it produced similarly, kebayas from different countries possess distinct characteristics and appeal. Want to know more about the unique features of each country's kebaya? Here are some facts about kebaya
Indonesian Kebaya
In Indonesia, Kebaya is the traditional top that commonly has a unique and own style from every local region. It’s kinda like a woman's top that similar to blouses
Kebaya is commonly paired with traditional fabrics such as batik, songket, and woven textiles. The kebaya comes in various styles across the country, including Betawi, Sundanese, Javanese, Balinese, Kukubaru, embroidered, and encim.
The kebaya in Indonesia is now usually worn to attend special events which are generally formal such as weddings, graduations, and traditional ceremonies.
Ang Eng Nyonya Kebaya From Malaysia
Malaysian kebayas are very similar to encim style, the kebaya type from Jakarta, Indonesian. They have a strong Chinese influence in their design. Local people have been wearing kebaya in Malaysia since the 1960s.
One of the local fashion brands, Ang Eng Nyonya Kebaya, has been producing it for a long time, with embroidered accents as its main statement and tends to be vibrant, bright, striking colors, usually the base fabric color is yellow, then the embroidered color is usually fuschia or neon green.
Nyonya Kebaya From Singapore
Locals in Singapore call it a "nyonya kebaya." It's basically developed from the traditional Malay dress and often associated with women of Chinese-Malay descent.
The "nyonya kebaya" has been a popular style in Singapore since the 1960s. It even became the iconic uniform for Singapore Airlines back in 1968, and it's still their uniform today.
In the early 1970s, more and more kebaya styles started popping up in Singapore. Several companies started making kebaya fabrics, leading to a wider variety of styles.
What makes Singaporean kebayas are unique because they're often made with see-through fabric. Most Indonesian kebayas aren't like that. Singaporean kebaya ladies usually wear them like blouses or cardigans.
Nowadays, many people wear them for work, especially in places like hotels and resorts.
Brunei kebaya
Brunei kebaya has a different look. Even though they are both paired with traditional cloth, Bruneian people have different ways of tying cloth. Simple blouses are their mainstay, but there are brooches there to sweeten the look
Before the 1960s and 1970s, Bruneian women traditionally wore a shirt called a 'kurung.' But as fashion trends changed, the 'baju Kacang' style became popular. Later, the kebaya became the go-to choice for many women.
Sadly, the popularity of Brunei Kebaya only for a while, By the 1980s, it hardly to find pictures of people wearing them. After that, other styles of clothing, like the kurung cloth, became more common.
Thailand Kebaya
Thai kebaya has a more Mexican or Latin American style, this can be seen from the balloon sleeves with gold ornaments on the weave. The cloth that is usually paired with kebaya is also songket cloth which is used as a skirt. Back then, this kind of clothing was popular among Chinese women in Phuket.
