Batik As Far As The Eye Can See

Batik is incredibly popular in Solo City and Central Java is known for the batik that is made here. If you're not sure what batik is you can read my blog from two posts ago - Our Last Weekend in Solo City - to get a proper definition of it.

In Java it is common for people to wear batik to important business meetings instead of suits like we would typically wear in the western world. It was strongly encouraged that we all wear batik for our closing presentation that culminates our time here in Solo City.

There is a lot of off the rack batik to be bought. It's almost literal that you can't go more than a few store fronts without coming across a batik store. Our first weekend here many of us shopped for batik. I bought the dress to the right. I wasn't real thrilled with it at first, but I ended up getting a lot of compliments on it and in US dollars it costs me about $3.75.

A few days into our first week in Solo we found out that Anim, who is our Pyxera Global lead, has a couple of friends who are tailors. AND, it would cost us not much more to have custom pieces made instead of buying off the rack. Being a larger person it's been challenging to find much batik that fits me. Sizes here are about two sizes smaller than they are in the US. So, a person who usually wears a medium might have to get an XL. The largest size made for off the rack is XXL and that's my normal American size. So, my options were pretty much limited to the one dress I found above.

So, I took full advantage of choosing fabric, picking a dress style and having items custom made for me. I ended up having the following pieces on the left made.

I've worn the blue and white dress to work (but had to wear a cardigan with it to cover by bare arms). Today I wore the jacket shown at the bottom. The jacket was made with the batik I was given as a gift from one of the incubator tenants I met with. So, it has a little bit more of a special meaning to me. I was a little nervous when I picked out the jacket style and wasn't sure if I'd end up liking it, but I'm really happy with the. Finally, the dress in the middle I will wear for our closing presentation (with leggings since the dress is above my knees). It's my favorite fabric of all the batik I bought and probably my favorite dress style, too. It will make its debut at the closing ceremony and I am excited to wear it.

Prior to coming to Java I certainly did not plan to buy a partial new wardrobe while I was here, but the fabric is beautiful and alluring. So much work goes into each piece of fabric. They are very special souvenirs I'll be bringing home with me.

And, along with the beautiful, one of a kind pieces of clothing I now own they each are a treasure of my time here in Indonesia.

#IBMCSC #CSCIndo8 #IBMIndo