I do not know how many people here are going to get new baju raya for this coming Hari Raya. But i know i'm in the market for one. Actually i came out of some mamak session with a few of my malay friends on some plans for visiting people during raya. So pot pet and more pot pet, and i was thrown the idea of making a Baju Melayu for me to go raya open house touring with my malay friends. But that was last month.
Now i already have 4 off the shelf ones cheap from Mydin. Different designs and colors. And what suprising is even though they are of the same size, the fit is bad here and there. Cheap as in less than RM50 each. I was gunning for 7 sets to finish the rainbow color. These don't see action at all. And my parents seem to question me, "Since when did you changed religion?" when they search my wardrobe for crack. Of course they know i like to collect weird stuff. I could be getting rid of them if i get a tailored one. No more space for stuff.
So last week on Sunday i went to KL Wisma Yakin where there is supposed to be a lot of Baju Melayu tailors. I always pass by this place when walking to Jln TAR for many years and i never stopped in this building before. And i have heard of many getting their malay traditional wear there. So that day i went inside to explore. The first shop, i was greeted by a girl who was enthusiastic to get you as a customer. She promptly showed me ready made ones. But i was looking to get one tailored. Ask for a ball park figure, RM70 for tailoring charges. Not including fabric. The second shop also charges the same. Then by the 3rd or 4th shop, i think, another enthusiastic sales girl greets me. She gets me in the air conditioned room and shows me the ready made ones. RM 168 for complete top and bottom with sampin. I was so tempted to buy that there and then. But it wasn't satin type of fabric and its cotton mix. I wanted flash.
Then i went to Omar Ali and they quoted RM120 for tailoring charges, excluding fabric. Ready made ones cost from RM250 right up to RM800!!!. Pretty high. A check on the website, this is one of them seemingly high class ones like Spark Manshop kind of thing. Then there is BAK tailoring. Now this one i saw their branch before in in Tmn Tun called BAC MADACENA. I read in news papers last few weeks ago that this shop is a branch of BAK. And the name is an amalgam of some words. And the shop in Tmn Tun is very flashy. Then there is Den Wahab, the guy that supplied Baju melayu to the late Sudirman (the singer). But a quick check on websites have read a few negative feedbacks. And some of my malay friends say this tailor is over rated and very pricey. I don't think he will go lower than RM120 offered by Omar Ali though.
Now back at home, after visiting so many shops in Wisma Yakin, i'm going to go ask a few more non malay shops near my house and probably another visit to Pertama & Campbell. I hope to get one made next month.
Now what choice of color would go well with typical chinese skin? hahaha. a quick check, white is getting married, black is getting conferred national titles. So leaves me with a large swathe of colors. I'm quite fond of maroon or probably some dark blue number. Can't do yellow!
Then the other details like butang baju, songkok and sampin, maybe to be bought during ramadhan. Friends say more choices during then. Oh well, thats all i could report. Hopefully could post pictures later.
This post has been edited by netmatrix: Aug 28 2010, 11:39 PM
Baju Melayu, already acquired. pix at page 4.