THE NEW DESIGN FOR TRADITIONAL MALAY MALE ATTIRE FORM TRADITIONAL TO CASUAL WEAR Muhammad Khalik Mustafa* Lecturer, Department of Fashion Design, Faculty of Art & Design, Universiti Teknologi Mara Perak, Malaysia, Tel: + 60172449960 Email: [email protected] DR. Baharudin Ujang Senior lecturer, Department of Industrial Design, Faculty of Art & Design, Universiti Teknologi Mara Shah Alam, Selangor. Tel: + 60192817761 Email: [email protected] Zainudin Md Nor Senior lecturer, Department of Fashion Design, Faculty of Art & Design, Universiti Teknologi Mara Perak, Malaysia, Tel:+601135434963 Email: [email protected] Sahak Ramli Lecturer, Department of Fashion Design, Faculty of Art & Design, Universiti Teknologi Mara Perak, Malaysia, Tel: +60132825913 Email: [email protected] ABSTRACT This study is conducted to determine feedbacks upon the upgrading on the traditional Malay male attire’s design, which has been contemporaries, based on the character and the philosophy of the traditional Malay male attire. The wearing of traditional Malay male attire can be seen nowadays only in certain events and occasions. Among the attire studied here are baju kurung teluk belanga and baju kurung cekak musang. These original designs are given a new twist or in other word, transformation to adapt with the new fashion trends. Study conducted by having three methods; observation, evolution and questionnaire. The process making through idea sketches and prototypemaking and actual product making are done based on results of these study. It can be concluded that modernization done on these traditional attire to be more contemporary as casual wear for Malaysian men are acceptable through solving-methods done based on the study. It is important to keep this study going in future as the traditional attire has its potential prior to its modern counterpart, as men used to make the traditional attire as their daily attire during the early days of Tanah Melayu. Keywords – Traditional Malay male attire, contemporaries and casual wear INTRODUCTION Writting about the traditional Malay dress has not been fully developed. But there are some efforts to extend the knowledge in the collection of cultural performances or things like that done by the museum of a culture and arts.The main aim of this study is to explore, examine and analyze the nature of Malay clothes. This study also describe the existence of type of dresses, the way they are used and the sensitivity to clothes received as a heritage of Malay culture. As stated by Siti Zainon Ismail (2004) since the 15th century AD, there is the concept of clothing, "wearing the Malay way" recorded in old Malay literary texts in “Hikayat Hang Tuah” . The writing is viewed as a cultural record of clothing, how it is used and elements of traditional values and norms in the Malay culture.Reflecting on the traditional Malay dress without off setting to the value and meaning of the symbolic and aesthetic justification is important. However, there is no specific guidance about the rules or discipline that explains the meaning or concept.
PROBLEM STATEMENT Malay men traditional clothing can usually be seen mostly at official functions, marriage ceremonies and Hari Raya Aidilfitri. According to Journal from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (1987) “BajuMelayu” is commonly worn in Brunei, Malaysia and Singapore by Malay men and is usually restricted to Fridays at mosque and the Eidul-Fitr. Malaysian men (Malay) usually wear this shirt for general religious occasions, such as visiting the mosque or for religious gatherings. In Malaysia, it is commonly worn at formal events, such as festivals and weddings. Some companies allow their male workers to the wear BajuMelayu on Fridays. International fashion labels have become a major competitor to the traditional clothing. There are a lot of brands that Malaysians favor and these brands have been synonymous with modern fashion. This matter explains why traditional Malay male attires are not much sought after. Women’s traditional attire has more potential than the traditional men’s clothing. This matter is verified by the fact that most fashion designers nowadays pay more attention to women’s traditional attire. According to an article in Harian Metro dated 9th December 2012, “Baju Kurung Kedah’s Inspiration”, stated that some designers give the fusion aspect of traditional and modern twist in the design, and made it very detail. This is so as to execute the idea based on both characters (traditional and modern) that will not only gives a new look, but is ideal for anyone (Sahib, 2012). According to designer Micheal Shu during the launch of his Baju Kurung collection for women, his objective is to make traditional Malay attire for women to appear more elegant than usual, and can be defined as haute couture, not just an ordinary piece. Through his experience overseas, he noticed that the traditional attire become a commonly worn attire there, not much different than the kurung concept we have locally and this gives him the inspiration to design a collection of a more modern Baju Kurung (Shu, 2012). The situation is greater during the festive celebration (Hari Raya); the traditional baju kurung for women is an important item compared to the men’s. OBJECTIVE To transform the traditional style of Malay male attire to a “new look” by following the current fashion trend. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 1. Research and Inspiration “Creative research is the secret or trick which underlines all original design” (John Galiano,creative director) Research is vital to any design process, it is the initial trawl and collection of ideas prior to design. It should be an experimental process, an investigation to support or find out about a particular subject (Seivewright, 2007). From the statement research is an essential tool in the creative process and will provide inspiration, information and creative direction, as well as a narrative to a collection. According to book Research and Design the meaning of research is about a journey that can often take weeks or even months to collate and process (Seivewright, 2007). TABLE 1: Workflow of inspiration 2. OBSERVATION The gathered data is to obtain and see the revolution as well as changes done on the observation matter. Here the writer will draw and conduct comparison between the pattern and cutting of the olds and new “Baju Melayu”.
3.QUESTIONNAIRE The writer conducted questionnaire to acquire data of the studied problem. These questionnaire were given to male respondents. This is since the male respondents wear traditional Malay male attire. This is also to investigate the acceptance of males towards the transformation of traditional Malay male attire into a casual wear. 4.3D PRODUCTS For this stage the making process of 3D product had to be done. These processes introduce a series of step that will guide for the making process of designing cloth. Each step will involve the idea sketches, experiment of idea making garment, toile and actual product. LITERATURE REVIEW 1. BAJU KURUNG/MELAYU TELUK BELANGA History "Baju Kurung Telok Belanga" is said to be inspired or designed by the Sultan Abu Bakar about in 1866 (Zubaidah Shawal, 1994). Giving the name "Telok Belanga" may be to remember back nostalgia of "Telok Belanga" as the Johor state government center before moving to Johor Bahru. The original Malay clothes are a little different today. Sultan Abu Bakar (1862) was wearing the Malay dress to the knee length, pesak, berkekek, handkerchiefs and did not have any pocket, big arms and neck length and embroidered stitches of “jahitan mata kia” or “tulang perigi”. In the reign of Sultan Ibrahim (1873-1959) Minister of Johor, Dato Jaafar bin Muhammad had changed the original form of the Johor Malay clothes. The length of this dress was raised up to the buttocks and had three pockets, but the body, chortle, and pesak were maintained. According to Siti Zainon Ismail (2004) in her writings Busana Melayu Melaka early Malay shirt design was two feet shorter and was composed by Temenggong Hassan, , base of the arm sleeves were enlarged and extended the. Baju Kurung Telok Belanga was typically worn in a same matching with the top and the pants and there are three pockets, but some people aspecially the Johor Malays who like to mix and match the top and pants. This attire favored by the royal and certain dignitaries. Identity of the Johor style is easily distinguished by the "Baju Kurung" or Malay shirt by the wearing of a cloth on the inside of clothing or "kain dagang dalam". FIGURE 1: Baju Kurung Teluk Belanga with samping the styling of “kain dagang luar”. Photo By Hj. Ya’kob in 1910 at Papan, Perak. 2. BAJU KURUNG/MELAYU CEKAK MUSANG Baju Kurung Cekak Musang was introduced in 1930 or 1940 (Azah Aziz, 2004) . Baju Kurung Cekak Musang is one of the men dress shirt, the neck is divided and the original brackets are modified. According to Mohd. Sa `id bin Haji Sulaiman (2007) it is from Telok Belanga and knows as Baju Wan. A person named Haji Othman or his nickname “Haji Busu” went to ceremonial occasion and wore the Baju Kurung Cekak Musang which is actually a short shirt cut. The king was interested in the style of shirt and consented to the style of the garment. Baju Kurung Cekak Musang is referred to as Baju Telok Belanga Leher ‘Benea’ with his shirt pocket on the left side of the body. While in Sarawak, known as "Baju Melayu Berkerang Benang" or "Berkerawang". This shirt is still maintaining the original Malay cut shirt except for the shirt pocket. While Baju Melayu leher Tinggi is a Malay clothes, but the shape is not in accordance with the original shirt. Baju Kurung Cekak Musang is the choice of men at present and used in all countries except the few of Johor. Baju Kurung Cekak Musang is normally used the songkok, the trditional headgear and in the "Berdagang dalam" or "Berdagang Luar" style.
FIGURE 2: Terengganu princes flanking the Menteri Besar of Terengganu on a visit to London 1937. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 1.RESULT OF OBSERVATION Observation was used to find out the current fashion and style of traditional Malay male attire, and photography of traditional Malay male attire nowadays. Certain locations in the Kuala Lumpur area like mosque and shopping complex were sites selected for data collection. Beside that magazine and Internet was other medium to find the data collection. Based on the photograph-analysis done, the way of wearing the traditional Malay male attire can be categorized into two nowadays, the Cekak Musang wearer and the Teluk Belanga wearer. This statement is obvious by the photographs taken during observation. From the first analysis, it can be said that there are a few group of men wearing the complete Malay male attire when going to the mosque. However, the number is small. To most people nowadays, the traditional Malay male attire is known as “Baju Kurung Cekak Musang” and “Baju Kurung Teluk Belanga” and usually referred as “Baju Melayu” in Malaysia.There are also group of Malay men wearing the “Baju Melayu” without the samping and the songkok. They only don the “Baju Melayu” itself. There is also a group who choose to wear “Baju Melayu” – the top part, and match it with modern bottom such denim or khakis. Through observation in the shopping complex, some men who wear the “Baju Melayu” chose to match it with denim bottom. FIGURE 3: The style of Young generation wearing Baju Melayu 2. SURVEY RESPONDENT RESULT TABLE 2: Result of wearing Traditional Malay male attire The pie chart above indicates a number of places or occasions where the respondents wear the traditional attire. The respondents are given choices such as Wedding Ceremony, Hari Raya Celebration, going to the Mosque, Casual Wear and lastly Weekdays. The respondents are allowed to choose their answers more than one type of places or occasions. For the first choice, which is wedding ceremony, the percentage is 17.34%. For the second choice, which is Hari Raya Celebration, it has been chosen as the most popular choice with the percentage of 39.92%. The next choice, which is going to the mosque, has collected 35.08% of the votes, which is the second popular choice. For the next choice, 4.03% of votes were recorded, which is casual wear. Lastly, only 3.63% respondents chose weekdays as the time where they wear the traditional attire.
TABLE 3: Type of fabric normally made Baju Melayu This question required the respondents to choose which type of fabric they prefer to use to make Baju Melayu. The respondents were given 4 choices of answers and they were allowed to choose more than one answer. The choices of answers are Cotton, Sateen, Linen and lastly Songket. From the pie chart above, it can clearly be seen that majority of the respondents prefer to use cotton as the fabric to make their Baju Melayu. The cotton fabric has collected the percentage of 40.32% from the total votes. The second place goes to fabric sateen with the percentage of 27.96% from the overall votes. The next fabric chosen by the respondents is linen with 18.82 in percentage from the total votes. The least popular type of fabric is Songket with the percentage of 12.9% in percentage only. TABLE 4: Result of respondent’s preferable apparel to be worn with Baju Melayu. This next question tried to figure out the preferable apparel to be worn with Baju Melayu. For this purpose, the respondents were given 4 types of answers. The respondents were required to choose whether to wear denim pants, trousers with samping sarong or kain pelikat and lastly casual pants like khakis pants with Baju Melayu. The apparel that was chosen by the respondents with the most vots is a trouser with samping, which had gathered 48 votes and the percentage of 43.6%. The margin between the most popular answer with the second most popular answer can clearly be seen as the second most popular answer only gained 27 votes or 24.5% in percentage which is casual pants, e.g: khakis pants. On the other hand, the third apparel, which is sarong or kain pelikat, was chosen by 20 respondents, which total up to 18.2% in percentage. Last but not least is the denim pants with only 15 votes and the percentage of 13.6%, which is not too far apart from the third apparel TABLE 5: Result of Traditional Malay male attire could be worn as casual wear For this particular question, the respondents were required to state their opinion whether to agree or disagree to the statement that Baju Melayu or traditional Malay male attire could be worn during weekdays or as a casual wear. From the bar graph, it can be seen that there is a significant difference between the two choices of answer, which are Yes or No. The answer with the most votes chosen by the respondents is yes, which means they agree that baju Melayu or traditional Malay male attire could be worn during weekdays or as a casual wear with the percentage of 66.1% or 72 votes. On the other hand, the second answer, No, which means the respondents do not agree that baju Melayu or traditional Malay male attire could be worn during weekdays or as a casual wear, has accumulated only 37 votes or the percentage of 33.9%.
TABLE 6: The result of Respondents agrees or disagree Traditional Malay male attire can be transformed into a contemporary look. This question focuses on the view of the respondents whether they believe that the design of Traditional Malay male attire can be transformed into a contemporary look by looking at a picture given. The respondents were only required to answer Yes or No. From the pie chart, it can clearly be seen that majority of the respondents agree with the statement that the design of Traditional Malay male attire can be transformed into a contemporary look. This particular answer has gained a significant value with the percentage of 87.16%, a clear margin from the opposite. Thus, making the opposite answer which is No, with only the percentage of 12.84%, becoming the least voted answer for this question TABLE 7: The elements of design to be maintaining in a contemporary design For this particular question, the respondents were required to state their preference on which elements of design would they choose to be maintained in the design of the contemporary look of a traditional Malay male attire. The respondents were given 6 choices of answers and they were allowed to choose more than one answer. The choices of answers are the geometry cutting, pesak, kekek, and neck of teluk belanga, neck of cekak musang and last but not least shape and silhouette. From the bar graph, the most significant elements of design chosen by the respondents is neck of cekak musang with the percentage of 23.8% and 73 respondents has chosen it as their favourite. Following very close with the first element is the geometry cutting where 63 respondents with the percentage of 20.5% have chosen it. The next element goes to shape and silhouette with the percentage of 18.6% and was chosen by 57 respondents. For the next element, 53 respondents with the percentage of 17.3% chose it and the element is called neck of teluk belanga. 37 respondents with the percentage of 12.1% chose this next element and the element is called pesak. Last but not least is the element called kekek. 24 respondents with the percentage of 7.8% only chose this particular element. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION Based on the objective, this research was conducted to transform the traditional style of Malay male attire to a “new look” by following the current fashion trend. Through the conducted testing and finding of the evaluation, it has been found that the altered 'new look' design of traditional Malay male attire was accepted and the participants had agreed with the concept and design of “baju Melayu”. This research has also found out that this attire is suitable to be worn daily and casually instead of only wearing it for special occasions such as going to the mosque and hari raya. This contemporized traditional attire is able to attract the interest of the young generation to wear it. This has been proven from the evaluation process where 78% of the participants agree that this attire able to attract Malaysia men to wear it. REFERENCES Abbas Alias & Norwani MD Nawawi (2006), Pakaian Melayu Sepanjang Zaman, Dewan Bahasa Dan Pustaka. Abdul Latiff abu Bakar & Mohd Nefi Imran (2004), Busana Melayu Serumpun, Institut Seni Malaysia Melaka. Abdul Latiff Abu Bakar & Mohd. Nefi Imran (2004), Busana Melaka, Institut Seni Malaysia Melaka, Biro Sosiobudaya Dunia Melayu Dunia Islam Aishah Yusof (2012,July), Rizalman di Tescco, Utusan Melayu Anamika Pathak(2008), Indian Costume ,LustrePress. Apresiasi Busana Johor (2006), Majlis Kebudayaan Negeri Johor. Arshad B. Abdul Rahman. (1985), Pakaian Sebagai Penonjolan Identiti Kebagsaan ,Kementerian Kebudayaan, Belia dan Sukan. Aster Gunesekara Jr. Special Ceremonial Uniform For Minister, from bloger: http//www.budakkampongonline.blogspot.com Azah Aziz(2004), Kertas kerja II Pakaian dan PemakaianArkib Negara
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