Kebaya
A kebaya is an upper garment traditionally worn by women in Southeast Asia, notably in Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Southern Thailand.
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.
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.
Etymology
The link between "kebaya" with "qaba" "a vesture", 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". Portuguese records published in the 16th and 17th century also noted variations of the term cabaya as a Muslim long robe. The term was then introduced to the Malay world and Java through a Portuguese intermediary during the 16th century.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 while the Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia described it as a women's long-sleeved upper garment worn with a long piece of cloth. 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 has 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. Arabic clothing was known since the seventh century, with historical records even mentioning that the Islamic Prophet Muhammad received gifts of aqbiya 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 Persian, Turkish and Urdu. 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 have its origins 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 reaction to the Islamic dress code. 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. The Malaccan-Portuguese explorer, Manuel Godinho de Erédia, suggests that the wearing of cabayas were brought to Southeast Asia by Arab and Egyptian merchants as early as 1618.From the Indian Subcontinent and Portuguese
The detailed description of cabaya can be seen in the 19th-century Hobson-Jobson dictionary. 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. 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. 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. Once Goa was occupied by the Portuguese in 1510, the Portuguese influences extended from the India Subcontinent to the Southeast Asia Archipelago. The term was then introduced to the archipelago to refer to a light cotton surcoat worn by both European men and women.After the capture of Malacca in 1511, the cabaya worn by the Portuguese settlers in Portuguese Malacca took the fancy of local Malay women, especially in Johor and the east coast of Malay Peninsula. It was popularized by the Chinese Peranakan in Malacca. This perhaps encouraged by their Chinese husbands as this style of clothing was considered appropriate and not that different from Chinese style clothing. Peter Mundy, a British writer who visited Goa in the 1630s, also stated that women in Malacca dressed similar to women in Goa. 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.
From Malacca
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, kebaya emerged as a favourite among Portuguese settlers, that led to the adoption of kebaya as one of their attires. 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. In Cochin, the kavaya thuni was introduced by Portuguese Malays and Portuguese Chinese from Malacca and Macau to local Portuguese Indians, many of whom were brought there as wives to the Portuguese settlers. Besides "kebaya", this style of clothing was also known by the Malays as "baju belah labuh besar" and by the Peranakans as "baju panjang". From Malacca, kebaya made its way to Java, likely to be brought by the Chinese and Portuguese Peranakans and by the 17th century, kebaya was worn by men and women across the Malay Archipelago, even in the Spice Islands further east.From Java
Some resources also claimed that kebaya originated from Majapahit or Java, as a means to blend the existing kemben, women's 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 reaction 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 bodies. 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, and subsequently it has become the official dress of its successors, Cirebon, Surakarta and Yogyakarta. 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.From China
Southeast Asia has traded with China, India and the Middle East since the middle of the first millennium, which is 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, possibly led to the creation of kebaya in Java and Malacca. 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.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. 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. 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.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.
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.
File:COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM De echtgenotes van twee werknemers van de Singkep Tin Maatschappij Riouw TMnr 10007287.jpg|thumb|250px| Two Peranakan women in long kebayas, Singkep, Riau Islands
By the early 20th century, the long kebaya 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. 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. The Peranakans would often recycle the fabrics of their long kebayas into short kebayas.
The short kebaya worn by Peranakan is a tighter-fitting sheer blouse as opposed to the loose-fitting, knee-length tunic of its predecessor. The earliest example of a short kebaya worn by the community is the lace kebaya. This style is noted for 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, it was only a century later, the Peranakan women began to wear this type of kebaya.