THE EVOLUTION OF dress through the ages is about more than just changes in fashion. From the way women are perceived to how they perceive themselves, costumes reveal much about social standing and lifestyle.
Nyonya Kebaya - A Living Art, showing at the Asian Civilisations Museum, traces the history of the traditional long-sleeved, tight-fitting blouses worn by the Nyonyas, the Straits Chinese women.
Although the kebaya wasn't invented by the Nyonya (it's thought to have first appeared in Indonesia) it was so widely embraced, adapted and transformed by them that the costume has become a visible manifestation of their identity, inextricably linked to the local Malay culture.
'To us, the Nyonya kebaya is the epitome of the assimilation of cultures in Malaysia,' says Leela Mohd Ali, chief executive of Yayasan Budi Penyayang, a non-governmental organisation (founded by Datin Paduka Seri Endon Mahmood, the wife of the Malaysian prime minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi) that focuses on family values. 'This exhibition was first mounted in Kuala Lumpur in 2003, and we hope it will help rekindle the heritage and revive the use of kebaya.'
More than 70 pieces from Endon's private collection of 400 kebayas are on display for the first time outside Malaysia, including examples from the 1920s. Endon says she started keeping kebayas that she found interesting for their intricate and exquisite embroidery.
'I found kebayas fascinating and I haven't stopped being amazed by the fact that our mothers, grandmothers and even great-grandmothers had such artistic talent,' she says. 'I marvel at the colour co-ordination, the fine needlecraft and the wide range of motifs used in embroidering the kebayas.'