Decked in batik blouses and sarongs, four teenage girls stride down a fashion show catwalk, seemingly straight out of a village in this Southeast Asian country.
Statuesque models follow in a batik-loaded swirl of silk scarves and colourful chiffon.
It's official: Malaysian batik is coming out of the closet.
After a lifetime of being overshadowed by the more widely known Indonesian batik, Malaysia's version of the traditional dyed textile is now the target of a big push to popularize it in global fashion circles.
"Our ultimate aim is to bring Malaysian batik to the world stage, where it will get the prominence, acclaim and sales that it deserves," said Endon Mahmood, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's wife, who has begun a campaign to boost batik manufacturing standards, nurture new designers and tailor the products to foreign tastes.
Batik-making has been a part of Southeast Asian culture for centuries, possibly brought by travellers from India, the art's reputed birthplace. The skill flourished in Indonesia, spreading eventually to neighbouring Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines.
Lauded for their polished craftsmanship, Indonesians have long generated the most widely recognized batik, though production steps are similar everywhere -- using wax to draw out designs on cloth, dyeing the textile and boiling it to melt the wax away.
In recent years, Indonesian batik has sometimes been incorporated into clothes by Western designers, and top Indonesian designers have shown off batik costumes during overseas shows.
Nevertheless, Malaysia insists its batik fabrics could have an international edge because they have brighter hues and more versatile patterns than the illustrations of animals and people common in mystic-influenced Indonesian batik.
"It is very possible that Malaysian batik will reach the shelves of Macy's, Fifth Avenue and Neimann Marcus -- provided the support mechanism is well operated," columnist Wahti Mahidin wrote in the Malay Mail newspaper.
But challenging Indonesia's international foothold won't be easy, especially since the popularity of Malaysian batik has faded even at home in recent decades, its products now worn mostly by government officials and aging matriarchs on formal occasions.
Reviving the use of batik here is a priority of the campaign orchestrated by Malaysia's first lady Endon, a fashion trendsetter who published a coffee table book in early 2003 that stirred renewed interest in a traditional ethnic dress called kebaya.
Endon has voiced hopes that an ongoing publicity blitz, which comprises fashion shows, trade exhibitions and even a batik-themed street carnival, will drive up domestic demand and deliver an economic incentive for hundreds of batik manufacturers to improve their products.
"This is a matter of national pride in a craft that has served us well," said Prime Minister Abdullah, who is abetting his wife's campaign by encouraging civil servants to wear batik to the office on Saturdays, a half-day in Malaysia's working week and when dress has traditionally been more casual.
The efforts by Endon and her newly formed Batik Guild, a coalition of industry insiders, are expected to culminate in early 2005, when Malaysia plans to host a world batik convention.
For now, other initiatives include a design competition to discover fresh Malaysian talents to create innovative attire and trendy accessories using batik material.
(China Daily January 17, 2003)
