Songket

This picture was taken in 2008 when I still lived in Palembang and were about to leave for Yogyakarta.

The cloth I am wearing is called Songket. Indonesian people must be familiar with this typical cloth.  Songket is a type of golden cloth made in Indonesia and Malaysia, a ceremonial textile made of metal wrapped threads that course across a ground of silk or cotton, forming intricate decorative patterns (Rodgers and Summerfield,2007:1). Songket’s origins probably lie in the 15th or 16th century, but more textile researchers see a much earlier date for this type of cloth.
The materials used to weave Songkets are seven different types of thread or yarn; metallic-wrapped (gold or silver) thread, bast (a type of plant-based fiber), silk, polyester, rayon, and mylar plastic (Rodgers and Summerfield,2007:47). The type I am wearing made use of metallic-wrapped silver thread and the most affordable one. The price for a Songket, including  a shoulder cloth (selendang) ranges from thousands to millions Rupiah. Do not get shocked, if you encounter a Songket costs Rp 20 million in one of Palembang’s outstanding Songket outlets.
Since at least the late 1700, Songkets have been used in several regions of the Muslim malay world as shimmering luxury wear. The Songket-wrapped body has long denoted economic privilege and high social status in places such as Trengganu, Malaysia and western, central and southern Sumatran kingdoms. However, everybody nowadays can have songket as the complement of clothing collection. Even, it is always widely found that Songket can be worn not only for special events, such as wedding reception, but also for upscale receptions held in business or national government context and graduation day. It can be displayed on living room walls as well.
For the comprehensive knowledge, you may get the following reference.
Reference:
Rodgers, Susan and Anne Summerfield, John Summerfield. (2007). Gold Cloths of Sumatra; Indonesia’s Songket from Ceremony to Commodity. Netherland:KITLV Press.