image courtesy of fashionsnoops.com
Since Batik has been gaining more exposure and its own audience among young Indonesians lately, we should not forget other traditional fabrics that our nation has, before some country proclaims its copyright again =) ! Indonesia has been blessed with a diversity of arts and crafts. Each of every island in our beloved archipelago has their own cultural characteristics, their own architectures, handicrafts, music, dialects, foods, and last but not least, their very own traditional textiles, like Songket, Ulos, Ikat, and many others that aren’t widely known yet.
Following the ethnic tribal trend / safari chic look, several designers are using Ikat print in their Spring collection. And I thought, such a good timing to value our own traditional textiles and expose ourself to Ikat. Contrary to our traditional Ikat which is usually made through weaving technique, either machine or hand woven (tenun Ikat), those designers in the West are mostly using Ikat as a print on their designs.
