What nubile Nonyas wear

Kebaya-inspired designs from the house of Bebe Seet at the Peranakan Museum Opening Festival.

Bibiks in the old days wore loose-fitting baju panjangs (long dress) similar to these, which resemble fussier interpretations of what makciks might wear to a kenduri. Later nonyas adopted shorter and more form-fitting kebayas, turning an Indo-Malayan costume into a richly embroided suit with European lace and Oriental motifs. The broad arms on this outfit are a modern touch, as traditional kebayas usually have narrow sleeves, the better to dine with delicate fingers.   

For some, the Nonya's kebaya is a tropical counterpoint to the qípáo – a display of feminine shapes in a sheer fabric of bourgeois respectability. For modesty's sake, the light voile or organdie used to create the outer garment comes with a matching camisole or brassiere. An ornamented brooch (up to three in true blue designs) called the keronsang fastens the front of the kebaya.   

The Peranakans favour colour combinations of relative contrast, frequently juxtaposing tones that seem non-intuitive or even incompatible to a contemporary aesthetic. Lavender is overlayed on ochre. Powder pink accompanies chinois green. And olive tops display sarongs of vermillion and gold. This affection for vivid shades also marks Nonyaware, which features kamchengs and utensils with exuberant finishes of enamel that easily distinguish Peranakan porcelain from the plainer patterns of Chinese ceramics.   

A special guest at the museum was Lim Swee Kim, a Penangite in her 70s who has been sewing since she was twelve. According to Mdm Lim, it takes three years to learn the basics of making a kebaya but a lifetime to get it right. The embroidery work is reckoned to be the life (or death) of the artisan, as its design and execution entails an ability to bring out the contrast of colours between the fabric and the embroidered patterns, the fine and fragile detail of the motifs and convey a seamless sense of unity. Using a foot-powered Singer, Mdm Lim gave demonstrations of her technique. Having drawn and traced with a pencil a design on the voile, she stretches the fabric taut using a hoop. Solid blocks of colour are sewn with satin stitch, while threads in multiple shades provide transitions of colour and depth of texture. Mdm Lim still holds sway over from her shop, Kim Fashion, in Georgetown, Penang.

To make one kebaya, a tailor needs about 1.75 m of voile, which is a sheer, plain weave fabric made of highly twisted yarns of cotton. Its delicate lightness belies a resilience that allows kebayas to be handed down across generations, with some decades-old outfits appearing to have been newly sewn. Mdm Lim is said to favour the material sold by the merchants around Arab Street in Singapore. 

The models here were demonstrating how one ties the sarong but for some reason my duck got too distracted to learn the technique. Kebayas are usually worn with a batik sarong, a rectangular cloth that forms a tube into which the lady steps, pulls up and grips at the waist. The loose end is folded right over left and secured with a belt. And to complete the outfit, nonyas would don a pair of kasut manik or beaded slippers (the ladies at the show wore heels to keel) featuring toe covers with a velvet base and silk-stitched Rocaille beads of coloured glass.

I was thinking, it'd only be nice to send the ladies some pictures. That'd involve asking for their number though, which I was about to do when my duck was suddenly assaulted by a rabid rabbit...

Source: Datin Seri Endon Mahmood, The Nonya Kebaya: A Century of Straits Chinese Costume, Periplus Editions, 2004.

Comments

[Aydin]

Pretty ladies...

[edmund]

Lovely clothes. The colours are very vibrant.