Borneo Ethnic Fashion Statement :the social significance of Black Clothing..

Black was the color of mourning among SEA DAYAK .According to Adat Iban(Sea Dayak Customs)-->Wearing Black :TABOO & INAPPROPRIATE for Iban Maidens .Therefore when Ethnic Beauty Pageant Culture (Origin from Western)1st Introduced @Sarawak Borneo in 1960s..the "Kumang Pageant Standard" was set followed Iban Customs & "Old beliefs". 

IBAN MAIDENS STANDARD COSTUME??
When Iban Batang Rajang costume won MISS SARAWAK ETHNIC IBAN 2014 @ BORNEO HORNBILL FESTIVAL 6.0 again  for the 2nd times after BHF 5.0( read more:Pernahkan Ngepan Hitam di pertandingan Ethnic Pageant di Sarawak?? ).In fact, this costume never win  @any  Iban Ethnic Pageant in Sarawak State before BHF 5.0

Black Clothing(Ngepan Iban Batang Rajang)
 MISS SARAWAK ETHNIC 2013 & 2014 #Borneo Hornbill Festival #
Highly Western World Influenced ??..
Borneo People highly influenced by outsiders(European World,Middle East,India Civilization, China Civilization in many ways..especially Fashion ...such as jewellery(beads) textile,garments..Ornamentation..etc
Silver coins as part of Sea Dayak's Ornamentation is highly influenced from Europe since in olden days Dyak used British Coins as their ornamentation for "Status Symbol" by Org Kaya Iban in 1800s .Read More: Sea Dayak Ornamentation
Borneo Beads now feature a combination of old and new as Borneo people love to borrow ideas and styles from different sources.
Read more: Traditional Borneo Beads.
Since 500 AD, beads have reached Borneo through trade. By the 12th century, Chinese beads arrived in South-East Asia and, by the 19th century, Dutch and English explorers brought Venetian and Bohemian beads. “The oldest ba’o rawir were found in an Early Metal Age site in Sabah.’’ Read More:A Tale of beads

BLACK HERITAGE FASHION(BHF)
#BHF 6.0#Borneo Hornbill Festival
BORNEO ETHNIC FASHION STATEMENT.

BHF ??"BLACK HERITAGE FASHION" 
IMAGE: FB Discussion among Iban Group
KAIN KANGAN: FASHION FOR IBAN (SEA DAYAK)'s WIDOW .In olden days,Iban wearing black signified bereavement.  black was the color of mourning, worn a for some time after the death of a loved one(Borneo people love to borrow ideas and styles from different sources)

It's black, it's beautiful and used in the vicinity of Batang Rajang.. This is Kain Buri.. #sarawak#fashion #borneo #iban if you deny its existence in the Iban community then you still need to read history books.Madam Veeky Leonora 
(Miss Sarawak Ethnic-Iban 2011)

#BORNEO HORNBILL FESTIVAL..

Global Perspective:

The Social Significance of Black Clothing

For over 500 years, wearing black signified bereavement. In Europe and America, black was the color of mourning, worn at funerals and for some time after the death of a loved one. Originally a custom for royalty and aristocracy who were experiencing grief, "mourning dress eventually became a fashion statement worn by people who wished to imitate the elite"(Source: World Fashion History)

The Death of Mouring Dress

By the 1920's, the practice of wearing mourning dress began to subside. However, heavily Catholic countries still adhered to the practice as did folks of the older generation.
Well into the 20th century, men often wore black arm bands; and black clothing was often worn at funerals.
The custom of mourning dress impacted the garment industry in several ways.

Today, few people in Western developed urban areas wear black clothing during bereavement. But wearing mourning dress did offer a kind of protection for the bereaved. Other people understood at a glance that a widow was in grief. Expectations and demands were lowered, a quiet kind of sympathy offered, and even strangers could see that a person what not at their best, having suffered a terrible loss. (Source:FashionHistoryMourningDressBlackClothingWornDuringBereavement )

Black clothing has long been associated with the clergy and asceticism.

BLACK CLOTHING:Colin Duncan- Iban Sebuyau (Shaman Costume)#Finalist Mr Sarawak Ethnic 2014
BORNEO HORNBILL FESTIVAL 6.0

BHF T-SHIRT:
BLACK HERITAGE FASHION. 

Sarawak Ethnic Fashion Statement :

KAIN BURIE VS KAIN KANGAN(MOURNING DRESS)
KAIN BURIE-->Normally ,Nassa shells are sewn on black cotton .
KAIN KANGAN-->PLAIN BLACK CUTTON
Read More:Dayak Embaloh influenced in Kain Burie Iban Batang Rajang

The rise of formal black.(World Fashion)..During the course of the 15th century, the civic records show brilliant reds falling out of fashion for civic and high-status garments in the Duchy of Burgundy in favor of dark blues, greens, and most importantly of all, black.The origins of the trend for somber colors are elusive, but are generally attributed to the growing influence of Spain and possibly the importation of Spanish merino wools. The trend spread in the next century: the Low Countries, German states, Scandinavia, England, France, and Italy all absorbed the sobering and formal influence of Spanish dress after the mid-1520s.
Producing fast black in the Middle Ages was a complicated process involving multiple dyeings with woad or indigo followed by mordanting, but at the dawn of Early Modern period, a new and superior method of dyeing black dye reached Europe via Spanish conquests in the New World. The new method used logwood (Haematoxylum campechianum), a dyewood native to Mexico and Central America. Although logwood was poorly received at first, producing a blue inferior to that of woad and indigo, it was discovered to produce a fast black in combination with a ferrous sulfate(copperas) mordant. Despite changing fashions in color, logwood was the most widely used dye by the 19th century, providing the sober blacks of formal and mourning clothes. (Read More:Natural_dye )

After all,MISS SARAWAK ETHNIC IBAN is not KUMANG GAWAI.........
Kumang- Kumang Bajik Ba Sarawak Taun 2013
SOURCE:KUMANG BETONG