Kemben

What is Kemben?

Kemben is the Javanese and Balinese way of dressing the upper body with a single length of cloth. A strip of kain, the Indonesian word for a piece of cloth, is wound around the chest and torso, its edge folded and fastened, so the shoulders stay bare. The cloth is usually batik, tenun or ikat, though almost any fabric will do. A narrow sash called the angkin may be bound over it at the waist, above a lower wrap called kain or sarong. Court ladies, nobles, palace servants and dancers wear it in Yogyakarta and Surakarta; among the Javanese of Suriname, elders still wear it daily.

Where does Kemben come from?

Before the kebaya, the fitted blouse that later spread across Indonesia, took hold, kemben is believed to have been the most worn female dress of ancient and classical Java. It stayed current from the Majapahit era through to the Mataram Sultanate. In recent decades it has slipped out of everyday Javanese life, as many Javanese Muslim women adopted Islamic dress such as the hijab, which was once uncommon in Indonesia. The wrap survives in the royal courts, the keratons, of Yogyakarta and Surakarta, worn especially by nobles and abdi dalem, the palace servants. Whether to preserve this classic court culture, against the pull of a more conservative Islam, is now openly debated.

How is Kemben made?

The classic kemben needs no sewing. The wearer wraps the cloth snugly around the torso, folds and tucks the edge so it holds, ties it with an added cord, and covers it with the angkin, a smaller sash bound over the abdomen. Batik kemben worn by palace ladies in the keratons are mostly of this wrapped kind. Newer versions are cut and fitted to the body, closing with buttons, straps or a zipper much like a western corset, and dancers in the srimpi and wayang wong repertoires usually wear tailored velvet corsets. The cloth itself may be batik, ikat, songket or tenun.

Colours, motifs and borders

No single palette or motif belongs to the kemben, since almost any cloth can serve. What marks it is the line it leaves: bare shoulders, read in Java as elegance and femininity. European observers liken the look to décolletage, but the cloth stays local: batik, patterned with wax; ikat, dyed into the threads before weaving; songket, shot with metal thread; or plain woven tenun. Nothing buttons or hooks; the fabric is held by folding and slipping its edges and tying a knot, so the drape of the cloth is the whole design.

How Kemben is worn

Worn in two pieces. The lower cloth, called kain or sarong, wraps the hips and covers down over thighs and legs. The upper cloth is the kemben itself, wound around the chest and torso with the shoulders left bare, folded shut and tied fast, with the angkin sash bound over the waist. There is no blouse; the wrap is the garment. In courts and on stage, tailored corset-style kemben are also worn, fastened like a bodice rather than tied.

When Kemben is worn

Kemben today is dress for ceremony. It appears in Javanese and Balinese rituals, in traditional dance, and in palace ceremonies at the keratons of Yogyakarta and Surakarta; a Balinese man may wear one for a Barong dance performance. In Suriname, home to a large Javanese diaspora, the wrap is worn in daily life, mostly by elders, and at cultural events such as the Java New Year, when traditional dances are performed. For srimpi and wayang wong dancers, the tailored velvet version is stage costume.

Styles of Kemben

Two broad kinds exist. The traditional kemben is simply wrapped and tied; the modern one is cut and sewn to fit, closed with buttons, straps or a zipper, and dancers often wear velvet corsets shaped to that form. The cloth varies too: batik, ikat, songket and tenun are all used. The style also travels with its people. Javanese settlers in Malaysia keep the kemben they brought from Java, which differs from the kemban worn by Malay people, a related name but a separate wrap.

What Kemben means

Bare shoulders carry meaning here: the kemben is read as a sign of elegance and femininity. Its decline and survival trace Indonesia's changing currents. Many Javanese Muslim women have set it aside for the hijab, a garment once uncommon in the country, while the courts of Yogyakarta and Surakarta keep it alive among nobles and palace servants. That keeping has itself become a debated question, between preserving classic Javanese court culture and the rise of conservative Islam among Indonesian Muslims. Abroad, in Suriname, wearing kemben is a way the Javanese community marks its identity, at gatherings like the Java New Year.

Questions people ask about Kemben

Good reading and sources

• Kemben on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• More photos on Wikimedia CommonsPhotos and video
• Wikidata recordOpen data