Jogja Fashion Week

This week in Jogja Fashion Week. Students from vocational schools, colleges, volunteer and other community groups participate in the festival by creating their own unique fashion designs and presenting them in the Carnaval at the Jogja Expo Center. This year's theme was all about reusing and recycling, so contestants got very creative with their usage of items for their outfits. It was very interesting and amusing to see all of the fashions and it was obvious how much time, preparation and diligent work went into constructing them. Hopefully the following pictures do the contestants' artistic creativity some justice. A very nice job and congratulations to all those who participated!

Dieng

Last weekend, Brett, Mary, Bethany and I went to Dieng Plateau, a wetland caldera area of the Dieng volcano located near Wonosobo, Central Java. The area is composed of two stratovolcanoes, Butak Petarangan and Dieng. I asked our guide what "Dieng" means, and he says it is a Javanese word for something or some place very beautiful. Wikipedia begs to differ and says that the name "Dieng" comes from Di Hyang which means "Abode of the Gods."  Either way, after a treacherous 3 hour drive up a mountain along windy roads with imminent bus plunges threatening at every curve or blind pass, we finally made it to this beautiful place.



Our first stop was a volcanic crater lake. Due to the sulfur and other elements from the volcano, the lake shown an intense light green and milky blue in most areas. The colors have changed and will change based on the fluctuating composition of the water as the volcanic activity changes.

The weather at Dieng was beautiful. being so high up, it was what most Indonesians would consider downright "cold," but to a Michigander like me it was very refreshing and much cooler than the Jogjakarta area. It almost felt like fall temperature in Michigan, actually, so it was quite welcome. Near the crater lake we encountered several small caves and Mary dared to try to fit down in one...

The next stop was part of the volcano itself. Our guide told us the volcano was fairly "inactive," but inactive rarely holds much truth when you are in the Ring of Fire. As you can see by the pictures below, there are boiling mud pools, along with fumaroles and hot springs nearby.

The next attraction was several Hindu temples. There are about 8 temples left in the complex, though at some point there were though to be more than 400. The temples date from the 7th and 8th centuries and are the oldest in Central Java.

The temples are very interesting structures built to honor the Hindu gods. The temples are fairly simple structures, especially on the inside usually only having a small, flat stone table for rituals. The doorways have carvings of early Javanese demons and masks, giving the temples an almost spooky but reverence demanding appearance.



Making Batik- For Rudy! : )

Batik is a style of making material or cloth, created by the Javanese hundreds of years ago. Batik has become a trademark of Indonesia and it is still very popular and worn widespread throughout Indonesia in both traditional and modern clothing. The process of making Batik is meticulous and requires much time and diligent work. I was lucky enough to observe several steps to the process of making Batik when I accompanied SMK 6 grade 10 on a field trip one afternoon.

First, the design is sketched on plain fabric. The design may come from a stencil or may be an original work of the artist creating the batik.

After the design is stenciled onto the fabric, it will be traced in hot wax. Another way to create a batik design is to use a stamp instead of a tracing a stencil or making a sketch. The stamp is dipped in hot wax and them applied to the fabric.

At the particular batik producer we visited, many iron stamps were available for creating designs.

Below, a woman traces a batik stencil in hot wax. The wax will act as a resistor when the fabric is dipped in dye, so that the dye is absorbed only by the exposed fabric and not the parts covered in wax. The wax will actually seep through to the other side of the fabric, making the pattern appear on both sides of the product.

The process of dying the fabric may be repeated several times, applying wax over desired areas to create different color shades and effects.

In the final stage of the process, the wax will be boiled off the fabric to reveal the final design of the batik.

Below, some students studying clothing design at SMK 6 practice making batik in the courtyard.

Batik is still worn throughout Indonesia and has become a well-recognized trademark of the country. A great amount of time, diligence and energy is required to make this style of fabric that has been around for so many years. It is a highly respected and celebrated form of dress for these reasons. Every Tuesday and Thursday at SMK 6 teachers will abandon the standard school uniform for batik attire, and on Fridays students wear batik shirts as well to celebrate the traditional clothing of Java.

Happy Birthday Jogja!

Thursday, October 7th, was Yogyakarta's 254th birthday! SMK 6 and much of the city celebrated by wearing the beautiful traditional Javanese clothing known as the kebaya. Women wear Batik skirts often embellished with sequins and other glamorous affects, and also brightly colored embellished tops. Most have long sleeves and may be made of lace or mesh netting with intricate hand beading or embroidery with a corset worn underneath. Every kebaya is different as they are often hand made especially for those wearing them. The men also wear long Batik skirts along with Batik caps and a belt or cummerbund with a small Javanese sword tucked in the back. All of the styles, colors, and hand sewn details were incredible! I was lucky to have my counterpart teacher, Ibu Yiyis, lend me a kebaya of her daughter's to wear. And it was even green, my favorite!

The women also spend much time perfecting their hair and makeup. Bright lipstick and eyeshadow shades matching the kebaya are common, as are fancy hair pieces and beautiful barrettes. Below are a few of the teachers at SMK 6 looking stunning! 

Needless to say, at a birthday party as important as Jogja's, there is no school work to be done. Instead the school held a karaoke contest and also a runway show. I barely escaped having to sing though I explained it would not be music to anyone's ears, but many students and also teachers took the stage to sing traditional Javanese songs as well as Indonesian pop songs. I even heard an Eric Clapton number in there : )

The courtyard at SMK 6 was filled with seating for the entire school under several large tents. A few teachers judged the singing contest as the rest of the students and faculty sat and enjoyed the show. It even rained a little bit, but this did not stop the teachers and students from giving their best performances.

It surprised me how different all of the students looked in their traditional clothing as I am accustomed to seeing them daily in their uniforms. Everyone looked more mature and sometimes it was hard to tell the students and teachers apart. Many students watched their peers perform, and some were even so supportive as to join in with them on the stage, dancing or helping them with some back-up vocals. The performances were all extremely entertaining and everyone who sang had a wonderful voice, a few female students were so incredible they actually gave me the chills! Everyone who participated did an amazing job and it was great to see everyone let loose and have a good time at school together.

Bu Yiyisand I along with several other teachers left SMK 6 for a while to stop by a wedding reception. The wedding was a traditional Javanese one. As you can see below the Bride and Groom are dressed and made up immaculately. Muslim brides will wear the jilbab adorned with real flowers that smell incredible, and those who do not wear a head scarf will have the traditional Javanese hairstyle detailed with golden and silver barrettes. The Groom may wear a suit or a traditional kebaya, also very ornamented with flowers or other decorations. A traditional Javanese wedding reception is a little different than an American one in other ways as well. The Bride and Groom will sit on an elevated stage, very well decorated as you can see from the picture. They will sit here for the entire duration of the reception and only rise to greet and welcome people to the party and thank them for coming. The guests arrive and greet the Bride and Groom as well as family members, take pictures with them and of course enjoy some food. At this particular wedding I tried Guduk, which is a trademark food of Jogja made from the JackFruit. It is very sweet, too sweet for even some natives of Jogja, but is very delicious over white rice and is a must-try for everyone visiting Jogja. A traditional Javanese wedding is an intense way to be exposed to just one of the many different and amazing cultures of Indonesia.

Below is a picture of me with Bu Yiyis in our kebayas. Along with our lovely party at SMK 6, Yogyakarta hosted other parades and carnival arts with appearances and participation from various government officials to celebrate. Happy Birthday Yogyakarta!

For more information on Yogyakarta and its history visit : http://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daerah_Istimewa_Yogyakarta