The Wonder That Is Batik

It is officially October, which is my favourite month of the year. Not only is it the month of Halloween—and my birthday!—it also starts with acknowledging the beautiful cultural heritage from Indonesia that is batik. If you've been around long enough, you might notice that I've been in love with this gorgeous art form and resist-dyeing technique for years. It is one of the (few) reasons that I am proud to call myself an Indonesian—and a Javanese. In fact, I originally wanted to write a whole post dedicated to batik. Unfortunately, that has to morph into this outfit post instead, as I have very little spare time this week—should've written it months prior, of course, but shit happens. It just so happens that I was wearing batik last weekend when I went out with a friend to visit Semasa di Balai Kota—it is a pop-up creative market event filled with locally produced goods. The colonial backdrop and the ethnically appropriate getup are purely coincidental.

Hand-me-down batik dress + purse // thrifted loafers + shorts // photos by Agung

This particular batik 'dress' ain't nothing new, to be honest. You might have seen it in this post previously. It's actually not suitable to be called a dress—or even a shirtdress—as it is basically just an oversized batik shirt. One look in the mirror, though, makes me really want to wear it as a dress of sorts. I still had to deal with the high slits on the side—as well as the front—so I wore shorts underneath. The silhouette and pattern work really well together to create a '50s-'70s vibe that comes with post-colonial Indonesia. Actually, I completed the look with a batik band that I wrapped around my head like a ribbon, but it somehow didn't show in any of the photos (lol). Lastly, just to splash a douse of reality into this series of photos, I'd just like to say that the place was actually quite packed. We were lucky to find this corner almost completely unused. Wonderful!