Javanese Girl for A Day

Last weekend was my ex-colleague's wedding. Me and 3 other ex-colleagues decided to attend the wedding in Jogjakarta, it was a good excuse for a catch-up-date after years being 'graduated' from Garud*food. So, the bride sent us a piece of fabric and asked us to make a 'kebaya'. Kebaya Kutubaru.
Kebaya is a traditional clothing for Javanese ladies, and made into 'national' dress by our previous first-ladies (all of them are Javanese, I think)

I love the idea of wearing a kebaya, I want it to be very traditional, very simple and looks like what commoners would wear in daily life. Nowadays, the commonly seen kebaya are made with lacey fabric, have a contemporary design, decorated with studs and stones... a very 'heavy' kebaya.

To add more authenticity touch, I wanted to have a classic 'konde', the big round hair-bun. Also popularized by our first-ladies. The problem is, my hair is short. Here is my pic 3 weeks ago.

A magical touch, smudges, pulls and tears finally made me look like a Javanese. Here is the before picture. I can't talk much about the heavy make-up, it is just the way they do it, but I opted for a less dramatic eye-lashes, which make me look softer compare to other 'pagar ayu' - bridesmaid.

For the hair, OMG. I don't know how much holes I made to the ozone layer that morning. Since my hair was very short, it is extremely difficult for the hairdresser tease my hair. Hair-teasing is to add volume to my hair. Look at the frizzy crazy lady with triple pig tail at the back. That's me! The triple pig-tail was to anchor the bun (I don't have enough hair for a pony tail). The bun was made from synthetic hair, so we just need to clip it on. The problem is, since I don't have much hair, I need lots of pins to secure the bun.









Despite all the crazy look above, I am pretty happy with the end result. I love the Javanese look. I really appreciate what the hairdresser's masterpiece. She spent twice longer time on me, compare to the normal long hair girls.





 





Here is my picture with the kebaya kutubaru. The 'jarik' aka. skirt was made from 1 piece of fabric wrapped around me, no stitch at all. Secured with a 'stagen', a small piece of fabric wrapped tightly around waist to give a slender illusion. It was so tight and firm that it was very hard to walk! Now I understand why Javanese girls always look elegant. Basically because they can only walk in small steps!







Here are more picture from that day. It was definitely a very fun experience to be a Javanese girl. I think I am hooked :)