Sarong, Batik

Sarung

Certain motifs were exclusively reserved for Indonesian nobility. The royal Wadasan pattern, for example, was originally only to be worn at the palace of Cirebon on the north coast of Java. In order to circumvent this rule, classic batik designs such as Parang, Semen and Wadasan, which were often kept in earth tones, were modified and creative motifs added. These extended patterns are more colourful and reflect a certain multicultural influence. Often a “kepala” is added and the cloth worn as a sarong. In consequence of such extensions, the designs are not “forbidden patterns” anymore, and everybody may wear them and feel closer to nobility. This practice was particularly important to immigrants from the Netherlands, China and the Arab world; they were called Peranakan which originally meant “child of a foreigner with an Indonesian mother”. Today the same term refers to migrants who have already been living in Indonesia for two generations. Many of them settled down along the north coast of Java (Pesisir), opened new batik workshops, and developed the region’s typical batik style.