Dress as Identity

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STUDIO JEJE’s collection highlight for exploration of fabrics: kerancang embroidery, hand weaving, embellishment, and pleating. A romantic fusion where complex fabric exploration technique and touch of Indonesian culture come together, maintaining each value as an exquisite aesthetic.

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We take the inspiration from the society of traders in archipelago of Indonesia during Dutch East India Company (VOC) era. Straits in Indonesia have become a melting pot where the traders from China, Middle East, India, and Netherlands have been lived together and create a new culture named peranakan culture. Peranakan (Chinese-Indonesian) influenced style was developed along the coastal areas from trading activities and assimilation through marriage. The cultural assimilation enriched the motifs in batik pesisir with flowers and animals. It was not only influenced the batik ornaments, but also the daily wear. All people living in the Netherlands East Indies have to wear their own ethnic dress when appearing in public.

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For chinese women, who were all peranakan, it was the batik sarung and baju panjang, and of fine, embroidered silks for women of wealth and the men, high collared jas tutup. At the same time, Dutch women wore a batik sarung with long sleeved kebaya jacket whose history went back to sixteenth century India. Dutch women opted for tastefully colored floral bouquets and luxurious foliage.