Travelholic: Origin | Baju Kurung Johor

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Many might not know to why is the baju kurung Johor is also called baju kurung Teluk Belanga. Well, Teluk Belanga or the Belanga Bay is a place located in Singapore, and it is designed by Sultan Abu Bakar in 1866 to celebrate the transfer of Johor's capital from Belanga Bay in Singapore to Johor Bahru. Thus, Teluk Belanga design became the trademark for baju kurung Johor and is now simply referred as baju kurung.

What makes baju kurung Johor unique is in its design, its round collared neck with a slit in front comes with ‘tulang belut’ or cross stitch around the collar that looks like a chocker or necklace. The neater and cleaner the cross stitches are, the more regal it looks. Workmanship of a ‘tulang belut’ is often highly praised if it the gap is closer and tighter, and it is hard to find a tailor that can stitch beautiful and neat tulang belut nowadays, hence the cost of a ‘tulang belut’ baju kurung is expensive and a good tailor is high sought after my designer.

Baju kurung in Johor are known for its 3 main design namely baju kurung pesak kekek, baju kurung pesak gantung and baju kurung cekak musang. Here is where it became interesting, I’ve come to realized that a lot of youngster are not aware of the pesak or the panel on the side of bodice, and the importance of it. There are 2 types of pesak in a baju kurung – pesak kekek and pesak gantung, baju kurung is worn with a matching sarong with triple pleats for easier movement for the wearer.

Pesak kekek (kekek = gusset) is long sleeves loosely cut tunic dress, straight cut due to the pesak where else the pesak gantung (gantung = hang) cut is more shapely yet not figure hugging and it makes the wearer taller and slimmer.

In the olden days, a baju kurung is also paired with a sarong accessories drape either on its shoulder (selempang) or covering the female’s head (kelubung). The sarong is also styled on top of the dress which is popularly know dagang luar, where else for male, the sarong or samping is often worn underneath the baju melayu Johor and this style is know as dagang dalam.

Every part of the malay attire that symbolizes the malay culture or religion. For example, in wearing a samping above the knee represents a single/unmarried man, below the knee means that he is already married. However, if a married man is wearing a samping above the knee, perhaps he is ‘searching’ for another (wife/girlfriend). Baju kurung or baju me’ayu Johor usually comes with 1 button symbolizing of our one and only god, a baju melayu with 5 buttons represents Ruk5 pillars of Islam and our 5 prayers a day.

What makes it even beautiful is that it Is made of Tenun Johor or Johor woven fabric such as Tenun Johor Tanjung Piai, Tenun Johor Mayang Selida, Tenun Johor Corak Muar Berbunga Renek and many more. You can learn about Baju Kurung Johor and Tenung Johor at Yayasan Warisan Johor/ Johor Heritage Foundation.