BAJU KURUNG
The baju kurung is a traditional Malay costume which loosely translated as "Enclosed Dress". This type of costume is the national dress of Brunei and Malaysia, and can also be found in Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand.
Baju Kurung for men (BAJU MELAYU)
Baju kurung for men is now known
as baju melayu. There are two types of baju melayu, Cekak Musang and Teluk
Belanga. The Cekak Musang shirt also normally has three pockets – two at the
bottom, and one at the upper left breast. The Teluk Belanga shirt normally has
only two pockets both at the bottom. The Baju Melayu is a loosely fitting shirt
with long sleeves, worn with long pants with a "sampin" which is
wrapped around the middle of the body from the stomach to the knee and
sometimes lower. This sampin is usually a three-quarter length or full
sarong-style cloth made of kain songket, tenun Pahang Diraja or other woven
materials with traditional patterns.
Baju Kurung for woman (BAJU KURUNG)
A baju kurung is a loose-fitting full length dress, consisting of a skirt and a blouse. The skirt is made from a straight long cloth with pleats on one side. Whereas, the blouse has neckline, has long sleeves, kekek and pesak and extends to between the hips and knees. It is usually made of medium weight fabric such as silk, cotton and rayon. During the early Malays, baju kurung were made of cotton and were worn with batik sarong. The modern baju kurung commonly expresses lively colors and geometric patterns. Traditionalists prefer fabric from peninsular Malaysia's eastern states of Terengganu and Kelantan, where the culture of batik and other hand-designed fabrics is still strong.
BAJU KEBARUNG
The baju kebarung is a traditional garment worn by the early Malays. Kebarung has similar shape of kurung the only difference is the front opening of the garment. Some stated that the word kebarung is the combination of the baju kebaya (front opening)and the baju kurung. Kebarung consists of blouse with V-shape neckline lapel, pesak and kekek; and with opening at the centre front of the garment. The skirt were straight cut and pleated at the front, some old folks wore the garment with batik sarong. Similar to baju kurung, the garments were also made of medium weight fabrics.
KEBAYA
A Kebaya is almost to kebarung, but fitted and materials used are sometime lighter than kebarung. Kebaya were introduced from Indonesia into Malaysia. There are two types of Kebaya, Kebaya labuh and kebaya pendek. The components of the costumes are blouse and skirt. Blouse consist of centre front opening, with slightly loose long or three quarter sleeves; and without kekek and pesak. It is sometimes fastened using 1 to 3 brooches. Some kebaya has embroidery of stylization motifs of flora and fauna. The skirt is made pleated at front; and sometimes was worn with batik sarong. The materials used were sheer materials.
