Indonesia’s national dress is as colourful and as sparkly as the country itself, and there is nobody who wears the traditional costume the kebaya and batik better than the ibu ibu of Indonesia. Go to any wedding, and you will find the ibu ibu, the older more mature women, dressed to the nines in an almost avante garde sequinned outfit, replete with big bouffant and sparkly jewels. Go to a formal occasion (or even an upmarket Jakartan fashion mall!) and look for the older, upper class woman, who looks as done up and dolled up as you can ever imagine, shuffling along poshly. If you have never been to Indonesia, and find what I am talking about a bit peculiar, these self-proclaimed Ibu Ibu Gaya (Glamour Girls) even have their own website- check it out! http://www.strangerinparadise.com/Frequent_Flyer/ff-aug2008/Ibu-Ibu%20Gaya.html

However, the traditional Indonesian garb is not set aside exclusively for the upper class social set. In fact, you are just as likely to see a jamu jamu lady pushing her cart of natural remedies up the road wearing the kebaya and batik as you would ladies at a wedding. Indonesian’s are proud of their national dress and wear it with pride. Just recently it was announced that Fridays should be “Wear Batik Day", and it is amazing how many lovely, fashionable, colourful batik items can be worn by men and women alike in one office! I really do love it! A colourful cotton batik shirt certainly beats a dress shirt and tie anyday!

As for the kebaya, it is the blouse part of the traditional women’s outfit. It is usually made of of cotton, silk, lace, brocade or velvet, with the central opening of the blouse fastened by a central brooch. The blouse is usually semi-transparent and worn over the torso wrap or kemben. The kemben is much like a sarong which requires a helper to literally wrap the wearer and it is held in place with a string (tali), then folded this string at the waist, then held with a belt (sabuk). The outfit can be as elegant or as gaudy as the fabric (and sequins!) allow, but hey, if it is good enough for former president Megawati Sukarnoputri to wear in public forums (in only the finest red fabrics of course) then why shouldn’t it be worn as a status symbol by the elite? And worn with pride by even the everyday Indonesian?

Here you can see me and my fellow ibu ibu emulating the look of the ibu ibu, dressed up in the kebaya and kemben, (yes, those wearing the kemben had to be literally dressed by the helpers on hand!) with the typical hair, makeup, jewellery and accessories that would normally be set aside for a wedding. It’s over the top, slightly ridiculous and a bit scary (but hey, it was Halloween and we had the wedding package!) but also strangely beautiful and an amazing transformation from the normal me.

Nobody can say I am not getting into the Indonesian culture- even on Halloween! I think us Western ibu ibu definitely looked the part on Halloween night, and we represented the different regions of Indonesia too. Lisa had a Balinese style, I was Sumatran and Lesley and Natasa wore the look of a Javanese mother of the bride. Oh, and Kate represents the Senayan Mall region :-) It sure was fun getting dolled up as never before….and I actually think the Ibu Ibu Gaya might have been a bit jealous if they had seen us!