Malaysia has launched a three-year campaign to revolutionise the use of traditional batik in a bid to carve a niche in the world of haute couture and revive its slumping cottage industry.

The colourful textile, intricately hand-painted using wax and dye, has traditionally been associated with older people attending formal functions, but the Southeast Asian country's new first lady wants to get it onto supermodels strutting the world's catwalks.

Endon Mahmood, wife of Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, is heading a campaign involving a series of fashion shows, street carnivals and contests building up to a World Batik Convention and Exhibition in 2005.

She hopes it will prod local designers to move away from conventionalism and reinvent batik through modern designs that exude chic charm and contemporary appeal.

More importantly, Endon aims to create new markets to improve the economic welfare of hundreds of small rural producers and make batik an inherent part of Malaysia's national identity.

"Our ultimate aim is to bring Malaysian batik onto the world stage where it would get the prominence, acclaim and sales that it deserves," she told reporters after launching a local batik fashion design competition recently.

Dispelling the stereotype

Her husband Abdullah, who became premier after Dr Mahathir Mohamad retired last October, has given her his full support and recently encouraged civil servants to wear batik to work on Saturdays.

Early Malaysian batiks were copies of those from Indonesia, made with block printing and repetitive designs.

But local artists have developed their own style and most now handpaint batik or use new techniques to create abstract effects on different type of fabrics from silk to cotton and polyester, using bold contrasting hues from sunset orange to shocking pink and blue.

Bill Keith, who heads the Malaysian Official Designers' Association, said local fashion players are still experimenting with the use of batik and must work towards dispelling the stereotype that it is conservative.

Keith, a top designer who has staged fashion shows worldwide, said he had incorporated batik into his creations in the past 15 years and found them hugely popular in Japan.

Adding a surprising touch of batik to a fetching evening dress and batik patchwork on a man's jacket or conversely, embellish glittering Swarovski crystals on a batik kaftan blouse can produce amazing results, he said.

"We cannot compete with Paris, Tokyo or New York but our batik is what's going to put Malaysia on the international fashion radar," he told AFP .

"Batik is about wearing art, wearing a masterpiece. It's our bright colors that set us apart from the others. We are so loud and that's a bonus on the runway."

Keith plans to launch a new collection of batik wedding dresses this year and orders have started coming in.

Contemporary collections

A growing number of local designers have begun tapping into the renewed interest in batik to create contemporary collections ranging from sexy bareback dresses, spaghetti-strapped blouses and flirty pleated skirts to catsuits and exotic bikini tops.

But such creations come at a high price.

Fashion house Jendela Batik, backed by Endon, showcased its new batik "Art to Wear" collection in London earlier this month to an elite crowd and is pushing to put its haute-couture batik wear on the racks of plush department store Harrods.

Its 30 creations, including a triple-layered chiffon dress and pink off-shoulder satin dress with shawl, are priced at between 500 and 800 pounds (about US$900 to US$1,500) each.

The fashion house said many pieces were sold during the private viewing and it hopes to encourage British designers to use its batik fabrics.

State-owned Malaysian Handicrafts Development Corp said the country must target the high-end market because it cannot compete with Indonesia or China which have swamped the market with cheap mass block-printed batik.

"Malaysian batik is freer in terms of expression. We have beautiful designs. Our strength is in our hand-drawn piece. Each is unique and cannot be copied exactly," said director general Zakiah Ahmad.

"We cannot produce for the mass-market in the same way that Indonesia does. We must concentrate on the middle to upper markets."

Design contest

The corporation promotes batik overseas and conducted shows in Paris, Monaco and Cuba last year to tap the European and Latin American markets.

Last week, the premier's wife launched the second Seri Endon Trophy batik design competition which offers cash prizes totalling RM100,000 for winners in the fashion and soft furnishing categories.

Endon said she hoped to nurture a pool of local talent and would expand the competition in 2005 with more categories, some of which will be open to international designers.

Organisers said the competition, which is open to individuals or teams of up to four people, attracted 55 entries last year and many of the finalists have gone on to get lucrative contracts. - AFP