Balinese traditional textiles in tune with modern times<\/p>\n
By Mehru Jaffer<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): As the pencil thin model draped in a body
\nhugging kebaya walked in, the audience let out a collective cry.
\nSome thought that the outfit -- a combination of a lemon green
\nsongket skirt topped with a laced kebaya, below which the model
\nwore nothing else except a little white bra embroidered in pink
\nflowers -- was sexy. Some others felt blinded by the exposure of
\nso much flesh.<\/p>\n
Unfazed by the criticism, Didi said that he did not force
\nanyone to wear anything. \"I am just showing you what my
\nimagination has been up to lately,\" said the fashion designer who
\nspecializes in evening wear and does not like the thought of
\nwomen feeling alien within their own surroundings, especially
\nbecause of the way they dress.<\/p>\n
He likes to drape women in dresses that will make them feel
\ncomfortable, especially in the evening for all parts of the world
\nwhether it is the east or west.<\/p>\n
Besides, few outfits are worn straight out of a fashion show.<\/p>\n
\"Designers always adjust them eventually to the demand of an
\nindividual client,\" Didi likes to remind.<\/p>\n
All his outfits are inspired by traditional clothing and
\ndesigns but have been modified for the modern day miss. He finds
\nthe kebaya a very sexy apparel.<\/p>\n
This season some of his kebaya have done away with the
\ntraditional front opening and are criss-crossed at the back in
\ncorset style. Some are off shoulder.<\/p>\n
His sarong is no longer just a piece of cloth sewn into a tube
\nbut is shaped into sensual curves to be worn for a formal musical
\nsoiree without feeling like a country bumpkin. The shimmering
\nsongket skirts remain a riot of color but the beauty of the
\ntextile is enhanced by the way that they have been stitched.<\/p>\n
Didi uses only the most expensive and also the most sacred of
\nall material as a waist band.<\/p>\n
He is known to introduce his collection annually around a
\ntheme inspired by some aspect of the rich art and culture of this
\ncountry.<\/p>\n
In this event the Jakarta-based designer presents 10 outfits
\nmade from the traditional textiles of Bali.<\/p>\n
Once he decided upon this theme he chose the Balinese
\nanthropologist I Made Seraya as a guide and toured villages in
\nBali for months, watching master craftsmen engaged in the art of
\nweaving as it has been done for centuries and also studied the
\nsacred meaning of the motifs and colors woven into fabrics.<\/p>\n
He is especially fascinated with the double ikat geringsing
\ncloths which are made only after performing special purifying
\nrituals. It is the most famous, and also the most expensive of
\nall textiles produced only in the village of Tenganan, Bali.<\/p>\n
This fabric is considered sacred throughout the island. Some
\nsay that human blood is used to deepen the red color that goes
\ninto weaving the fish scale patterns and kawung, the semicircular
\ndesigns which are supposed to keep illnesses at bay.<\/p>\n
Traditionally the sick are wrapped in this cloth and the dead
\nare covered with it. The double ikat is also spread out on
\npillows for tooth filing rituals.<\/p>\n
Ikat is from the Malay word to tie a knot and is an ancient
\ntechnique introduced by Indian Gujarati traders who specialized
\nin patola designs where a motif is dyed into the threads of a
\ncloth before it is woven.<\/p>\n
Like the patola the background color is almost always a deep
\nred and once the Balinese were introduced to the frightfully
\ndifficult art of the double ikat, they added new patterns of
\ntheir own inspired by wayang puppets and other mythological
\nfigures from local legends.<\/p>\n
For textiles in Bali do not only serve as protection against
\nthe cold and sun but are also powerful symbols indicating the
\nstatus and well being of the wearer. The women of royal families
\nalways competed with each other to create the most beautiful of
\nfabrics using sumptuous materials like silk imported from China
\nand gold and silver thread from India.<\/p>\n
The Balinese believe that textiles are bestowed with magical
\npowers capable of protecting the wearer against malevolent
\ninfluences. Cloth also serves as an intermediary with the
\nsupernatural world in rituals like cremations when hundreds of
\nmeters are set ablaze on a funeral pyre as it accompanies the
\nsoul of the dead to the other world.<\/p>\n
The age-old tradition has been to grow cotton in villages
\nwhere it was not possible to plant rice. While men worked on the
\nfields, weaving became the domain of women who are still said to
\nbe the guardian of all the secrets that go into making cloth.<\/p>\n
And one of the most important duties of a mother is to hand
\ndown to her daughters knowledge of the warp and the weft given to
\nthe women of Tenganan by god Indra himself.<\/p>\n
Although the history of textiles in Bali is a very ancient one
\ngoing as far back in time as the eighth century none of it ever
\nexisted or flowered by itself.<\/p>\n
Rather like a bouquet textiles here are a combination of
\ninfluences from around the world.<\/p>\n
From the Dong-Son culture of the northern region of Vietnam
\ncome the knife, the hook, soul ship, tree of life, animals and
\nhuman forms and the sun burst patterns along with the warped loom
\nitself.<\/p>\n
By the second century AD Indian traders mingled with people
\nhere. The fifth century saw a Hindu kingdom established in Java
\nand in the seventh century the kingdom of Srivijaya in south
\nSumatra was a major center of Mahayana Buddhism.<\/p>\n
It was Indian and Arab traders who brought Islam in the 15th
\ncentury and later Dutch merchants came with Christianity.<\/p>\n
The Chinese immigrants too did not come empty-handed. The
\npatterns on the porcelain and embroidery brought by them inspired
\nthe phoenix bird, the swastika emblem, the lion and the cloud
\ndesigns to be used here on cloth.<\/p>\n
It is said that there are over 3,000 batik designs that
\ninclude Indian, Chinese and Buddhist patterns including
\nindigenous motifs of local fruits and flowers.<\/p>\n
A Dutch engraving in 1593 shows that people here were quite
\nnaked above the waist. It is from 1653 onward that bodies were
\ncovered with some clothing and the rulers of Makassar are known
\nto have worn European coats over bare skin, with naked arms and
\nbellies.<\/p>\n
A common tendency was to sport a jacket of European design
\nover an expensive cloth used as a traditional sarong.<\/p>\n
Human beings therefore have been influencing each other
\nthrough the ages and it is no surprise that they continue to do
\nso even today.<\/p>\n
Now, if the sole purpose of insisting that just one kind of
\nkebaya be worn here so that men are not distracted by women then
\nlet the weak willed men do something about themselves for a
\nchange. Let them control their passions so they are not swayed by
\nsuch temptations.<\/p>",
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