The earliest form of Kebaya originates in the court of the Javanese Majapahit Kingdom as a

means to blend the existing female Kemban, torso wrap of the aristocratic women to be more
modest and acceptable to the newly adopted Islam religion. Aceh, Riau and Johor Kingdoms and
Northern Sumatra adopted the Javanese style kebaya as a means of social expression of status
with the more alus or refined Javanese overlords.[3]
The name of Kebaya as a particular clothing type was noted by the Portuguese when they landed
in Indonesia. Kebaya is associated with a type of blouse worn by Indonesian women in 15th or
16th century. Prior to 1600, kebaya on Java island were considered as a reserved clothing to be
worn only by royal family, aristocrats (bangsawan) and minor nobility, in an era when peasant
men and many women walked publicly bare-chested.
Slowly it naturally spread to neighbouring areas through trade, diplomacy and social interactions
to Malacca, Bali, Sumatra, Borneo, Sulawesi and the Sultanate of Sulu and Mindanao [4][5][6]
Javanese kebaya as known today were noted by Stamford Raffles in 1817, as being of silk,
brocade and velvet, with the central opening of the blouse fastened by brooches, rather than
button and button-holes over the torso wrap kemben, the kain (an unstitched wrap fabric several
metres long erroneously termed sarong in English (a sarung, Malaysian accent: sarong) is
stitched to form a tube.)
After hundreds of years of regional acculturation, the garments have become highly localised
expressions of ethnic culture, artistry and tailoring traditions.
The earliest photographics evidence of the kebaya as known today date from 1857 of Javanese,
Peranakan and Orientalist styles.[3]