Costume
The richness and diversity of Malaysian traditional costumes can be seen throughout the length and breadth of Malaysia. There is a great variety of beautiful costumes which differ in style and design from state to state.
The birth of modern Malaysia in 1963 continues to add more of the amazing collection of traditional costumes. Malaysian costumes include Sabah and Sarawak, also rich in tradition and culture from its many ethnic and indigenous people, further contributed to the fashion heritage of Malaysia.
Today we are most fortunate to witness the rich legacy of traditional costumes of various ethnic groups and communities in Malaysia as our very own cultural identity that we can be proud of.
The Malaysian traditional costumes become a kaleidoscope of colours. It is a visual delight to one and all.
MALAY COSTUME
Traditional Malay attire is the "baju melayu", a loose tunic which is worn over trousers and usually accompanied with a "sampin", which is a sarong which is wrapped around a man's hips. It is also often accompanied with a songkok or cap, on their head. Traditional clothing for men in Malaysia consists of a silk or cotton skirt and shirt with a scarf like piece of cloth tied around his waist. This scarf is sewn together at the ends and is traditionally called a sarong or a kain. Most of the clothing is made up of bright and bold colors. The man also wears a religious hat.
Malay women wear the baju kurung, a knee-length blouse worn over a long skirt. Usually a scarf or shawl is worn with this. Prior to the wide embrace of Islam, Malay women wore "kemban", which were sarongs which were tied just above the chest.
Baju Melayu Cekak Musang
This Malay male attire is worn either with a sarong or trousers in both the Baju Kurung Teluk Belanga and Baju Kurung Cekak Musang styles. As a traditional costume, however, this male dress is worn rightly with matching pants or trousers. The trousers are long, that is, they are worn up to the ankles, like the normal gentlemen’s long trousers.When thus worn with long trousers, the essential accompaniment for the whole attire is the samping. It is this that adds the extra elegance to the costume.
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Baju Telok Belanga
If the shirt, trousers and samping are worn in a similar colour, fabric or pattern, that is, in matching styles, then in Malay the style is called sedondon. The Baju Melayu is worn either in the style of "kain berdagang luar" or "kain berdagang dalam". In the "kain berdagang luar" style, the shirt is worn outside the trousers and covers part of the sampin. In the "kain berdagang dalam", the sampin is worn outside the dress and it covers the lower part of the shirt.Normally, the Teluk Belanga style is worn as "kain berdagang luar" and the Cekak Musang worn in the "kain berdagang dalam" style. In the Malaysian state of Johor, there is a style for the trousers or pants, called the seluar kiul. The pants are wide at the waist, tied using a piece of string instead of buttons or zip, and the pants, instead of baggy, become smaller down to the legs.
BAJU KEBAYA
Kebaya is a habitual blouse-dress combination for
Indonesian females.The kebaya is also recognized in some Asian countries like Malaysia, Burma, Singapore, Brunei, Thailand and Cambodia. It can be made from sheer material and worn with
a sarong or batik kain panjang, or other traditional woven garment such as ikat, songket with a
colorful motif. During the nineteenth century, and prior to the Nationalist movement of the early
20th century, the model of kebaya had enjoyed a period of being worn by Indonesian, Eurasian, and European women alike, with trivial style variations. In this time distinguishing class and category was important and produced variants of the basic set of clothes. Now we may appreciate the modern kebaya ( or in Indonesia called as model kebaya modern) that may be made of silk, velvet and brocade.
BAJU KURUNG
The baju kurung is a type of Malay traditional costume which is believed to be influenced by Arab, Indian and Chinese merchants. This Malay costume or baju kurung is the outfit of the whole Malay archipelago, namely Malaysia and Indonesia. The cut of today’s baju kurung is more sophisticated and the stitches are more intricate. The baju kurung was introduced during the reign of Sultan Abu Bakar of Johore.
The characteristics that differentiates baju kurung from other costumes is the long tunic with sleeves and the presence of pesak and kekek. The unique characteristics of the baju kurung include the hand stiching throughout the outfit known as sembat as well as the seam and heming. The neckline is stitched by hand using the tulang belut stitchings, inspired by the bones of eels.
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CHINESE COSTUME
The classical everyday clothing for men in Malaysia is a short sleeved shirt worn outside the trousers, light-weight trousers and informally, sandals for comfort.
The Chinese women wear the cheongsam, a one-piece dress with a high collar, diagonally closed with small clips or toggles (fabric clasps). It sometimes can have slits at the side, as is made with a soft fabric such as silk. The cheongsam is especially popular around the time of the Chinese New Year and other formal gatherings (the fourth and fifth women from the right in the picture above). Older well-respected women wear a samfoo, which looks like pajamas with a separate loose fitting top fastened by toggles and ankle length, or above the ankle, pants.
Tangzhuang
The male equivalent of the Qipao is the Tangzhuang, meaning Tang Clothing. In this case, tang doesn't refer to the Tang dynasty that ruled China before the Qing and Ming dynasties, but to the reference to Chinese as Tang People, or Tangren. The Tangzhuang was also worn during the Qing dynasty and has carried over to modern China as the men's traditional clothing. Loose fitting and comfortable, the tangzhuang fastens up the centre of the chest with cloth buttons and cloth loops, similar to the Qipao, and also has a short Mandarin collar. It is shirt length and comes with long or short sleeves. Loose fitting trousers of the same material are often worn with the tangzhuang.
Cheongsam
The traditional Chinese women's dress is called the Cheongsam in Cantonese, also known as the Qipao in Mandarin. This clothing is, perhaps, the best-known representative of traditional Chinese clothing and is among the most often worn traditional Chinese clothing today. The dress is form fitting, with a high mandarin collar, slits up the sides of the legs, tight waist and short or long sleeves. The dress buttons up the side, and it can be made from a variety of material, including silk and cotton. Originally a foreign dress, the design dates back to the Qing dynasty and was introduced by the Manchus, who ruled over the Han Chinese during this period.
INDIAN COSTUME
Indians in Malaysia as with elsewhere in the world wear sarees, a cloth of 5-6 yards which is usually worn with a petticoat of a similar shade. It is wrapped around the body so that the embroidered end hangs over the shoulder, while the petticoat is worn above the bellybutton to support the saree, which can be made from a wide variety of materials. The Punjabi Salwar kameez is popular with women from northern India, and is a long tunic worn over trousers with a matching shawl. The fabric imported from India, made of the best quality silk is used in making saris. There are two layers to a sari: a long bright colored "dress" decorated with colorful beads sewn on it to make it look more attractive, and a wrap, a piece of straight fabric draped around one shoulder which ties across the body around the waist area. Women with a high standing will have their clothing made from gold and silver thread with elaborate beading.
Dhoti
Dhoti is a six feet unstitched garment worn in a particular style which gives the pant effect rather than a skirt effect! It is paired with a stitched upper garment called Kurta which is normally longer than a shirt with two slits on each side. A traditional Indian man’s dress is incomplete without a head dress. A Nehru topi/cap or a petah/pagri/turban accompanies depending on the culture and/or religion.
Kurta
Sherwani is another type of dress with a long below the knee jacket styled coat or Kurta. It is usually worn with tight fitting pyjama like pants called churidars and sometimes a scarf is added to the attire.
Again there are variations in this traditional dress depending on region and religion. Kurta-Pijama, Lungi-shirt which is popular in south India especially Tamil Nadu and Gujarati dress which has a typical style of pants and a frock style Kurta.
Gandhi Cap(Ttopi) or Oagri
The GANDHI CAP (Hindi : गांधी टोपी) is a white coloured sidecap , pointed in front and back and having a wide band. It is made out of khadi . It takes its name after the Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi
, who first popularised its use during the Indian independence movement . Worn commonly by Indian independence activists , it became a symbolic tradition for politicians and political activists to wear it in independent India.
Sari (or saree)
The saree (sari) is a long unstitched cloth, usually patterned, which drapes over the body, worn with a tailored blouse and usually over a petticoat. This garment ranges from 4 to 9 meters in length and it is used widely across India in urban and rural areas. I would consider this to be the staple of Indian women clothing.
The draping style varies depending on the area of the country. The most common style is when the fabric is wrapped around the waist with one end then draped over the shoulder. Sari blouses are often “backless” with a halter style string drape.
Kurti
A kurti is simply a long shirt or blouse that falls below the waist and sometimes below the knees. This one can be worn for casual daily use or even as office-wear. Many times it is also accompanied by a dupatta (which we learned is the “Indian scarf”). It can be worn with salwar pants (wide at the thighs and narrower at the ankles), churidar pants which are usually narrow throughout the leg, leggings, or even jeans.
Some kurtis have two sewn openings on the sides where the fabric falls in the thighs.
Lehenga Choli
The Lehenga Choli (or Ghagra Choli) is the traditional dress in Northern India like Gujarat, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, and Madhya Pradesh.
The lehenga is a long skirt which is embroidered and pleated. A choli is a midriff-bearing blouse worn also with a sari; it is tailored to tightly fit the body with short sleeves and a low neck. Finally, a dupatta is worn to finish the look, being tucked into the skirt then wrapped at the waist and then draped over the shoulder similar to a sari.
Different styles of lehenga cholis are worn ranging from cotton types for daily wear, embellished ones for festivals, or fully embroidered ones for marriage ceremonies.
Salwar Kameez
The Salwar Kameez is mostly worn in Northern parts of India like Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh. It consists of the salwar (loose trousers that are narrow at the ankles), and the kameez (a long shirt or tunic). In Southern India, this style is called the “Punjabi suit” or simply “shalwar“. This dress is worn a lot by teenage girls and many Bollywood actresses.
A dupatta is usually worn with a salwar kameez. A dupatta is a scarf that is traditionally used to cover the head and the shoulders, or used drawn over the shoulders and drawn back over the bosom, but nowadays it is widely used as a fashion accessory. The material depends on the one used for the suit and varies between cotton, georgette, silk, chiffon, and others.
