What are Sarongs and Kebayas?
What is a Kebaya?A Kebaya is a traditional blouse worn by women in South East Asia, mainly Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore, The material is normally made of sheer material and worn with a batik or sarong.
Kebaya is originated from Arab world, the Arabic word for clothing is Kaba. Kebaya got its name as a type of clothing from the Portuguese when the landed in South East Asia in the early days. It slowly found its ways to be associated with a type of blouse worn by Indonesian women in 15th or 16th century.
The clothing type began to spread to Malacca, Java, Bali, Sumatra, Borneo, Sulawesi. After hundred years of accustoming, the garments have become part of the local customs and tradition.
Prior 1600, kebaya on Java island were considered as a sacred clothing to be worn only by the Javanese monachy. During the dutch colonization of the island, European women start wearing kebaya their formal attire. The kebayas in this period was made from mori fabric, with silk embroidered and spots colorful patterns.
In Malacca area, a different variety of kebaya is called "nyonya kebaya" became a very important cultural part of the Peranakan people. Nyonya kebaya dress consists of a kebaya completed with a Sarong and beaded shoes (kasut manek). The nyonya kebaya gains its popularity that the dress is wore also by other races, and cultures.
Knowing fully well the beauty of the kebaya, fashion designers are looking into ways of modifying the design and making kebaya a more fashionable outfit for the modern world. Casual designed kebaya can even be worn with modern clothes like jeans or skirts. For formal events like weddings, many fashion designers are exploring other forms of fine fabrics like laces to create a kabaya for bridal wear.What is a Sarong?
A Sarong is a large tube of fabric, often wrapped around the waist and worn as a skirt by men and women throughout much of Southern and East Western Asia, pacific islands and the horns of Africa. The fabric is often printed with bright colours with intricate patterns, most often themed with flora and fauna. They are normally checkered, or with geometric patterns. Sarongs are also used as wall hangings as an Art work. It is also used as other forms of clothings, such as baby carriers, full dresses, or as a shawl.
In strict usage, sarong denotes the lower garment worn by the Malay people for men and women alike. Consisting of length of fabric about a yard wide and two-and-a-half yards long. Centre of this sheet, across the narrower width, a panel of contrasting color or pattern about one foot wide is woven or dyed into the fabric, which is known as the kepala or "head" of the sarong.
This sheet is sewed at the narrower parts to form a tube. To wear it, one steps into this tube, he brings the higher edge to above the level of the belly button, while the hem should be about the same height with the ankles, positions the kepala at the centre of the back, and folds in the extra fabric from both sides to the front, centering it, then overlap and secures the sarong by way of rolling the upper portion over itself. Malay men normally wear sarongs woven in a checked pattern; whereas women would wear sarongs dyed in the batik method, in normally flora or fauna designs, and almost always in bright colours. The sarong is a also very common formal wear for women, with a kebaya blouse.
Sarong Kebaya
What has Kebayas and Sarongs have to do with each other? Sarong kebaya is the uniform of the Singapore Airline stewardess, otherwise known as Singapore girl.
The uniform was designed by Pierre Balmain, a renowed French couturier (www.balmain.com) in 1972, and is an inspiration from the traditional Malay evening dress. The trademark uniform is a long sarong skirt with 3/4 sleeves and a matching kebaya, together called a sarong kebaya, which personifies the SIA brand in almost all Singapore Airline advertisments.
More about the Airline behind the Sarong Kebaya
Its achievements
In just about two decades, Singapore Airlines went from just a regional carrier to an international carrier with a route network spanning over 90 cities in nearly 40 countries, while continuing to set the pace for exception standards for inflight services.
Singapore Airlines has consistently ranked tops in the United States' Fortune Magazine's list of Global Most Admired Companies (GMAC). It ranked 32nd in Top 50 of the 2004 All Stars Listing, and ranked 2nd in the airline category (Our Achievements, n.d.), making it both a world and industry leader--for a country that hardly makes a dent in the world.
In 2002, it was at 50th position, the highest ranked Singapore representative, and is one of only two Singapore companies to have made the list. Outside of Japan, SIA is the top ranked Asian company in that list, according to the sources. Criteria for evaluation include quality of management, quality of products and services, innovation, long-term investment value, financial soundness, responsibility to the community and the environment, wise use of corporate assets, global business men, and the ability to attract, develop and retain talent (Nepal news, n.d.).
In the Conde Nast Traveler Magazine Reader's Travel Awards 2004, Singapore Airlines was ranked second in popularity (89.91%) after Air New Zealand (90.08%) for the Leisure Travel--Long Haul category. British Airways (87.90%), Virgin Atlantic (87.46%), Emirates (87.40%) came after amongst the top five. As for the Business Travel category, Singapore Airlines is the business traveller's favourite, with scores above 80 for all criteria, and above 90 for lounge/pre- & post-flight facilities and in-flight entertainment. It scores 88.50%, ahead of British Airways (88.40%), Emirates (87.75%), Cathay Pacific (86.65%) and Air New Zealand (86.47%)
It began with three flights per week, and today their network covers 103 destinations in 41 countries. It is also the first to offer free drinks and complimentary headsets.
Singapore Airlines made history when the the Airline became the first to fly the world's largest aircraft, the A380, on October 2007 between Singapore and Sydney. The A380 also operates to and from London and between Singapore and Tokyo.
Who and What is the Singapore Girl?
According to the UK's Chartered Institute of Marketing's Glossary, a brand is defined as:
"The set of physical attributes of a product or service, together with the beliefs and expectations surrounding it - a unique combination which the name or logo of the product or service should evoke in the mind of the audience."
And according to About.com's Marketing Terms and Definitions, a brand is:
"A name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller's good or service as distinct from those of other sellers. The legal term for brand is trademark. A brand may identify one item, a family of items, or all items of that seller."
In short, the Singapore Girl is a brand, a brand icon and encapsulates SIA's brand personality.
The Singapore Girl immortalized in wax, in her signature Sarong Kebaya, and displayed in 1994 at Madame Tussaud’s Museum in London in 1994. No other airline has an equally, or even close enough, a brand name. Not surprisely, this comes at a huge advertising cost, at over SGD80 million. Singapore Girl personifies the SIA brand, and passengers loves it. It is the brainchild of Ian Batey of Batey Ads, Singapore’s largest advertising agency. At a time when other airlines were selling their tickets, marketing on their safety, Batey took the unconventional route to differentiate SIA with its service. Proven right over the test of time, its unparalleled service standard paid off, to be what it is today.
To be a Singapore Girl - the training
The chosen potential Singapore Girls undergo four months of training, the longest of any airline in the industry. In comparison, U. S. carriers train their flight attendants for two weeks to eight weeks. In SIA, three weeks are devoted to safety instruction which includes mock crashes, fire fighting and life saving. Most of the time is spent on teaching service: poise, deportment, wine connoisseurship, hair cutting to match their faces, smiling at any passenger of any temperament, what make-up matches their skin tones, how to sit, walk and climb stairs.
They are reminded that once they are in that Sarong Kebaya uniform, they are on show. In the words of cabin crew training chief Ban Eng Goh, passengers expect an “experience. Not just transport” (Clark, 2002).
Here is a taste of what they do in training (Clark, 2002):
- Deportment “Stand straight; maintain eye contact; never point; and smile, smile, smile.”
- English "verbal gymnastics" Reciting with happy intonation, “One wan weary white woman wearily weeping”.
- Wine appreciation course How to handle a discontent first-class passenger. “Q: If he has refused three bottles, do you open a fourth? A: Offer him something else, but if he wants another opened, do it.”
- Serving Hand-delivering trays and never loading off from a cart; when serving wine, keeping the wine bottle’s label facing the passenger. “Q: If a passenger doesn't want a drink, should you still offer him peanuts? Yes. Never assume. Assumption is very dangerous.”
- Grooming Complexion is scrutinized by a specialist; lips are always red to ensure a “beacon of color in a dimly lit cabin”. Hair cannot be lighter than dark brown and if it goes below the collar is worn up in a chignon or a French twist (no visible pins). Finger and toe nails are glossy red.
- Safety Drills In their sarongs, sliding out of a Boeing 747 mock-up crash; jumping into an indoor wave pool from an abandoned Airbus 340-30
To be a Singapore Girl - the glamour