Modern Batik Fashion Styles

When we travel to Indonesia, especially to Java, it is hard to avoid Indonesian batik. Java is the place where batik industry develops so well. There are some regions popular as batik center, such as Pekalongan, Jogjakarta, Solo, Cirebon and West and East Java. Each of those regions recognizes different designs. In Cirebon for example, the batik from the region is highly influenced by coast culture. Batik Cirebon is popular as "pesisiran", which introduces sky and water as the main pattern. Jogjakarta and Solo are different with Cirebon because their pattern is highly influenced by the court. Batik from Jogjakarta and Solo has more complicated patterns. Most of the objects brought are flowers, leaves and animals. In the late 70s, Solo region was the central of batik dress. The region has special area named Lawean, which was area where mostly modern batik fashion workshops run their operation. Now, the industry has spread to the whole area in Solo along with the popularity of batik dress to the Western world.

Although there are many different kinds of batik clothes model, in general modern batik designs are devided into 2 kinds: Geometric designs and Non geometric or free designs. Certain designs which come from northern coast of Java, particularly from Pekalongan and Cirebon, are known for the influence of Chinese culture and clouds motifs in their designs.A significant history of batik clothes model development was Diponegoro’s Battle in 1825-1830 that exhorted a lot dignitaries of Mataram kingdom to leave Mataram and move to another region of Java, to Surabaya, Madura, Banyumas, Pekalongan, etc. They brought and distributed batik culture too. Then Batik industries had increased faster during the Indonesia’s freedom struggle. Dutch also having a role as batik disperser mostly to Europe.

Based on the techniques in batik making, there are five kinds of batik :
Batik tulis (Hand made batik)
Combination batik (combination of hand made and stamped batik)
Batik cap (stamped batik)
Batik cetak (printed batik).
Batik cabut (combination of hand made and printed batik).
Among those kinds of batik, hand made batik is the most appreciated due to its intricacy and exclusivity in design and in the making.