The subject of ‘oriental textiles’ or textiles of the ‘oriental trade’ have been discussed from the perspective of trade impetus and consumption originating from, or at least stimulated by, the European maritime trade (e.g. Carl Crossman, The decorative arts of the China trade: Paintings, furnishings and exotic curiosities, Antique Collectors Club, 1991; Anna Jackson and Amin Jaffer, Encounters: The meeting of Asia and Europe, 1500–1800, London: V&A, 2004; Rosemary Crill, Chintz: Indian textiles for the West; London: V&A, 2008.) Understandably so, as these publications account for the formation of collections from such sources of provenance, which find themselves in major institutional collections in Europe and America. Taking as their basis trade accounts and records, these works provide an overview of trade and consumption patterns that are often detached from local interactions. Several recent publications have sought to enrich the accounts of foreign interaction in Southeast Asia with an eye to the ground, by providing first-hand accounts of Europeans with experience of interaction with local inhabitants (e.g. Peter Borschberg, The memoirs and memorials of Jacques de Coutre: Security, trade and society in 16th- and 17th-century Southeast Asia [2013]; Journal, memorials and letters of Cornelis Matelieff de Jonge: Security, diplomacy and commerce in 17th-century Southeast Asia [2015]; both NUS Press); and through archaeological findings (John Miksic, Singapore and the Silk Road of the East: 1300–1800, NUS Press, 2013).
Sarong kebaya: Peranakan fashion and its international sources joins these recent publications in providing an account of dress, textiles and jewellery found and collected in the Malay–Indonesian archipelago, and how local culture interacted with the international trade and sojourners that turned up on these shores. The publication gives attention to the ‘cotton route’, which Peter Lee notes is often obscured by the larger category of the maritime ‘silk route’ — the trade in luxuries and exotica that included porcelain, lacquer and ivory. This extensively researched catalogue was written to accompany the eponymous exhibition held by the Peranakan Museum, Singapore, from April 2011 to April 2012.
Running through the different chapters and discussions is the constant act of referencing the different cultural influences that impact on the evolution of local culture, tangible or otherwise. Woven into the discussions of trends and consumption is a rich description of society and the tensions between colonials, locals and mestizos (chap. 2), the slaves and the free (chap. 3), from which derives the politics of dress. Lush and detailed descriptions give an account of the driving forces behind fashion: class, wealth, ethnicity and gender. Notably, the role of women (whether female Eurasian and European batik retailers (p. 206); or Peranakan girls and women described in chap. 3 and after) is emphasised, and they are presented as active participants in determining fashion trends and influencing the evolution of the style of the kebaya and accompanying accessories (chaps. 6 and 7). The strategic use of materials that are considered ‘ephemera’ — prints and drawings — removes the ephemeral mysticism of the past and allows history to become documentary and visually present.
The author details and presents the history of the kebaya from extensive research on primary source documents. The opening chapter contains an excellent discussion of nomenclature (from linguistic origins and etymology) of the types of dress found in Malaya, from which the Peranakan kebaya derived its name. In the descriptions of the textiles and trade in Indian cloth in the second chapter, the very rich and diverse strands of the cultural origins of the sarong kebaya are traced. The depth of scholarship is also seen in the substantial appendices, which add layers that build up the contexts presented in the chapters. Notably, the selected inventories from Malacca, Batavia and Singapore (appendix 1), are important data, probably of gentlemen's/private trade on major merchant journeys, which provide for an extrapolation of the volumes of textiles traded. There are citations not only of textual and visual materials, but also of archaeological ones (e.g., chap. 2, n. 29).
The author notes that ‘the costume history of Southeast Asia is still a largely uncharted terrain’ (p. 29), and one of the objectives of the publication is to reevaluate ‘fashion as a Eurocentric phenomenon’ (p. 31), where non-Western textiles are classified as ‘ethnographic’ or ‘ethnic’. Despite providing an account to equalise the status of Asian textiles, power dynamics cannot be avoided in discussing fashion. To Lee's credit he acknowledges the problems in putting together this significant resource: ‘One theme often encountered in writing on the Peranakans is the notion of its exceptionalism — its unique hybridity [emphasis added] … but ‘cultural assimilation is raised only by one author, Siti Salwa Abu, and solely in the context of Peranakan dress in Malacca’ (ibid.). The problem is indeed a delicate one: despite the clear acknowledgement of the multiple cultural elements that make up Peranakan dress: does the eventual labelling of the collection here as ‘Peranakan’ and the focus on Peranakan consumption and use of Southeast Asian dress and fashion commit an ‘appropriation’ which the author sought to avoid? The historic photographs employed here to illustrate the context of use of Peranakan dress also proves to be a double-edged sword: they suggest the dichotomy between those who had the means to document their consumption and to be identified and named, and those who are hidden, or become passive documentary subjects because they do not possess the same means to control their image.
It is easy for a book on cultural heritage to fall into nostalgia, but Sarong kebaya does not face this problem. It is difficult to think of another publication that treats Southeast Asian dress history and cultural heritage — and that, in the context of Peranakan culture — with the same rigour and breadth. In his acknowledgements, Lee quotes Steve Jobs: ‘You can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards.’ Having connected the dots, this publication has collected substantial amounts of material that will expedite further discussions and research on Southeast Asian textile and fashion history.
