Chest cloth (kemben)

Before tailored tops became popular in the early twentieth century, women of the Central Javanese courts would wear long rectangular cloths to cover their chests, especially on ceremonial occasions. These narrow cloths would be wrapped several times around the torso, leaving the shoulders bare. The elongated diamond shape in the center indicated the wearer’s wedded status.

This chest cloth is decorated using batik, a technique of wax-resist patterning, in which designs are drawn on a plain sheet of fabric with a small stylus full of hot wax. Areas covered in wax are protected when the textile in dipped into a dye bath. Subsequent waxing and dyeing add colors and patterns to the textile.