Introduce Women Batik Dress in Modern Fashion

Despite its strong ties to traditional batik, modern batik uses linear treatment of leaves, flowers, and birds to create a more modern look of the outfit. Instead of the rigid guidelines that have guided traditional artisans for centuries, these batiks rely more on the designer's dictates in each fashion collection. 

Furthermore, the use of color in each shirt or women dress by contemporary designers exemplifies this point. Chemical dyes have rendered traditional paints obsolete, allowing artisans to achieve any color they desire without relying on conventional dyes. Cantings and caps are still used to create intricate patterns and designs in modern batik.

Fashion designers such as Iwan Tirta have aggressively promoted batik as a fashion fabric internationally. They have significantly contributed to advancing the Indonesian art of batik dress for women in traditional and contemporary forms.

The possibilities with batik are endless. Even though the design process has remained virtually unchanged over the last century, it has made significant advances in recent decades. Batur batik, or traditional dress for women, was traditionally sold in two-and-a-quarter-meter lengths that could be used to make kain panjang or a sarong.

Not only to make contemporary batik clothing, the batik cloth is now used for home furnishings and household accessories, such as heavy canvas, wall hangings, and tablecloths. Famous modern artists use batik techniques to create paintings, now found in many people's homes and offices.

The finest-quality hand-painted batik is extremely expensive in a regular shop, and the quantity produced is minimal. Even though we live in a machine-dominated world, there is a growing interest in handcrafted rather than mass-produced materials. Batik, for example, is one of these materials.

Visitors to Indonesia can visit batik factories in Jakarta, Surakarta, and Pekalongan to see firsthand how the intricate process is carried out, or they can ask reviews and questions of batik artisans who are giving demonstrations in stores such as Sarinah or Pasaraya in Jakarta. 

While a modern batik dress is influenced and inspired by the past, it differs significantly from the more prevalent traditional and formal styles. To apply the wax and dyes to the dresses, the artist can use various:

• Techniques, such as spraying, etching, discharging, cracking, and marbling.
• Tools, such as copper and wooden stamps, brushes, and stencils.

She also has experience working with natural and synthetic dyes on various surfaces and wax recipes with varying resist values, such as soya wax, beeswax, and paraffin wax.

Modern Batik on the International Stage

Batik has emerged as a significant player in the contemporary fashion industry on a global scale in recent years. As a result, the fabric is no longer limited to traditional clothing and has made its way into other areas of design, such as haute couture dresses and accessories like handbags.

Indonesian designers have made their mark on the international fashion scene by fusing traditional Indonesian batik with contemporary designs and production methods.

As a result of these advancements, internationally recognized designers from other countries have been inspired to incorporate batik into their design collections. Notable examples include the Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton, wearing a batik dress designed by the Belgian-American designer Diane von Furstenberg, and Angelina Jolie, who was photographed wearing a batik dress designed by the American designer Nicole Miller. 

Designers like Dries van Noten of Belgium, Ek Throngprassert of Thailand, and Milo Milavica of Italy have all used batik in their collections. Furthermore, one of Italy's oldest fashion schools, Koefia, has included batik dress in its curriculum and paraded its fashionable designs down the Milan catwalk.

The men batik and modern batik dresses are also exported to countries such as:

• The United States
• South Korea
• Japan
• Germany
• The United Kingdom
• Netherlands

International batik exports totaled USD 39.4 million in the first quarter of 2017, with the majority coming from the United States, which accounted for 37% of the total export value. 

The Future of Batik

As a result of UNESCO recognition and decades of international appreciation, batik in modern design has gained international recognition. As a result of this recognition, new and modern batik brands have emerged. In recent years, the use of batik and ikat fabrics in high-end homeware and furnishings has also grown in popularity. The unique designs with vivid colors of batik attract not only women but men as well to visit a batik shop and discover more.

It has also evolved in batik application techniques; a renewed appreciation for handcrafted batik has given rise to new producers in this field, both for traditional patterns and for more modern and abstract batik tulis. 

With the shift from silk and cotton to heavier fabrics like wool and cashmere for a winter collection, batik patterns have evolved regarding what materials they can use. By incorporating luxurious embellishments such as metallic gold thread into their designs, fashion and homeware brands are expanding the possibilities of how batik can be customized and made into a unique dress.

Batik is regarded as a Malaysian cultural icon. Yulo's research into the relationship between history and the character of societies reveals that ancient cultures reflect the diversity of experiences shared by their communities. In contrast, traditional arts and crafts reveal a composite of historical events and their surroundings, some of which have religious significance. Batik's role as an art form is frequently discussed in anthropology and sociology due to its variety of patterns, shapes, and design elements.

Malaysian batik is a traditional Malay craft that is less than a century old despite its status as such. Its aesthetics define and characterize Malay heritage, as seen through motifs that blend Malay sultanate culture with community values, imagination, and creativity in meaningfully interpreting their surrounding environment. Even though Malaysia's batik design heritage is founded on the country's dynamic sociocultural capacities to serve markets, decisions are frequently made in the interests of the country's economic agenda.

The Malaysian state's leaders are active participants in producing material cultural identities. Affirmative action and state intervention underpin the promotion and protection of Malay-dominated cultural production sectors in the case of batik and pewter.

As a result, these highly commercialized goods now have socioeconomic value in addition to the weight of cultural identity images, as evidenced by the government's active, consistent, and significant support for these products. Batik's long-term viability is assured due to a shift in public perception of it as a craft to more of an art form.

Modern Batik is well positioned for rebranding as an elite art form, which will aid in its recognition. The industry's survival has also been aided by innovation that creates new markets. The work of batik artisans and designers is becoming increasingly recognized for its distinctiveness and elegance, thanks to the promotion of batik as a form of fine art and the expansion of the company's brand image to include chic couture. Despite this, the industry has faced several challenges.

Imports from China and Indonesia are competitive and equally accessible in a market where mass-produced printed textiles have flooded markets instead of more expensive hand-painted batik. A domestic market should act as a buffer against fluctuations in demand. Employers and businesses in Malaysia's east coast states of Kelantan and Terengganu benefit from increased reputation, capital, and marketing capabilities, which help to sustain economic growth.

Modern Batik Formal Wear in Malaysia

Formal wear based on batik design is juxtaposed in the same way that traditional and nontraditional fashions are. It is common for adaptations of traditional Malay clothing, such as kurung, bajukebaya, and bajumoden, to heavily influence formal women's wear, deemed appropriate for evening and ceremonial functions.

These garments are especially popular with designers when made of expensive silk. Batik gowns, whether long or short, are popular formal wear worn by Malays and non-Malay and are frequently seen on the runway. As the availability of ready-to-wear clothing in contemporary styles expands, millennials and other younger customers are increasingly interested in purchasing ready-to-wear clothing, a shirt or a dress, in contemporary styles rather than tailored clothing.

Modern batik casual wear includes:

1. Sarongs
2. Dresses
3. Tops
4. Loose palazzo pants
5. Pareos
6. Caftans

Modest fabrics and headscarves for Muslim women are also popular batik patterns among contemporary fashion designers. 

This hand-drawn batik designed for casual wear features intricate patterns and motifs. Many Malaysian designers, both emerging and established, strive for the perfect fusion of traditional forms and fabrics from the country's rich cultural heritage with contemporary fashion. 

Trends that are currently prevalent Modern batik artisans have been experimenting with a wide range of creative processes since the inception of batik. The use of hot liquid color to decorate a piece of undyed cloth has changed due to advancements in fabric technology, printing techniques, and fashion styling. 

This has increased the expressiveness of couture by encouraging creativity and resourcefulness in the treatment of the wax-resist process, as well as the expressiveness of fashion.

What some considered to be nothing more than women's sarong wear was transformed after the introduction of batik cap yardage in the 1960s and the use of batik tulis in the 1970s - the strategy considered to be the most effective long-term because it could be executed relatively quickly while remaining unique and inimitable. In addition to its traditional uses as clothing and accessories, its use as decorative items for the home and furnishings for the hospitality industry was thus expanded. 

Modern Batik manufacturers in Malaysia's eastern peninsula have been modifying old patterns and creating new ones to accommodate usage for a variety of decorative items, such as stamped cloth yardage for tablecloths and bed linens, cushion covers, and household items, such as photo frames and wallets, and more oversized items, such as wall hangings, thanks to the encouragement provided by the Malaysian Handicraft Development Corporation. Batik is also a good choice as a gift: gift wrapping in batik-patterned paper has grown in popularity as a genuine means of promoting Malaysian batik worldwide.