Clothing Worn in Indonesia

The fact that Indonesia is comprised of thousands of islands has greatly influenced the diverse styles and established clothing worn in Indonesia. Every regional area represents their own customs with their own traditional clothing. Generally however, the country has been modernized and most people wear clothes similar to that of the Western style of dressing.

In a lot of the country’s rural areas and on special occasions, Indonesians wear their customary dresses. Batik is considered formal clothing in Indonesia, and usually comes in magnificent colors and fabrics, some even elaborated with trimmed gold threads, depending on which part of the country it comes from.

Clothing worn in Indonesia for professionally working men, is generally suits and ties, however most men don’t wear ties and just go with regular shirts and pants, particularly jeans for informal events. For women, dress is generally the clothing worn in Indonesia, even in severe hot weathers; on festivities and special events, women wear colorful and brilliant traditional dresses complete with headscarves, as well as on particular occasions women even cover their faces with only the eyes seen through the fabric in some regions of the country.

Indonesia’s climate is normally hot, so the majority of clothing worn in Indonesia are loose, like the wrap-around sarong-style skirts matched with light-fabric shirts; the fabric is sometimes decorated with embroidery. On casual settings like Friday prayers and relaxing at home, tubular sarongs of soft cotton fabric are a favorite choice of Indonesians; soft floral patterns are often the preference of women, while men like them in plaid patterns.

Tubular sarong clothing in Indonesia is usually worn by older women, while the younger ones fancy the more gratifying fit of tightly-wrapped kain panjang (a long cloth about two to two-and-a-half meter). Central Javanese such as Yogyakarta and Solo are famous for their elaborate kain panjang in exquisite fabric, worn by women and men swathed tightly around hips and waist, with little pleats made with loose front end of the cloth that falls straight in front.

Another type of clothing worn in Indonesia that is often seen on particular events is the short jacket that frequently has gold trims and buttons worn by men; the women on the other hand, wear kebaya or a cotton blouse that varies in style, some are gauze-fine with remarkable embroidery, and some are the heavier ones with its lacy cutouts.

Clothing worn in Indonesia is as historic as its country; Indonesians have represented their customs and the self-importance of its tribes through the preservation of their traditional clothing. Indonesia may have taken a grasp of the modern world in recent years, but its customary clothing has been a part of every family’s asset and pride.