Songket

The cloth itself

Songket sits in the brocade family, which means extra thread is added during weaving to build a pattern. Silk or cotton forms the base. Gold or silver thread is worked among the crosswise weft threads, a method known as supplementary weft. The metal lies above the surface, so the design stands out and seems to shine against the plainer cloth. Motifs run from small repeated shapes to long ornamental bands. A Minangkabau piece, for instance, may carry a pattern read as bamboo shoots. Thread was once wound with real gold leaf, which made the cloth costly and rare.

Origins and early records

The tradition is usually tied to Srivijaya, a wealthy trading empire based in Sumatra that ran from the 7th to the 13th century. Clothing carved on figures at the Bumiayu temple complex in South Sumatra suggests patterned cloth was known there in the 8th or 9th century. A Chinese chronicle of the Song dynasty records a Javanese envoy arriving in 992 with silk bearing floral designs in gold. Stone carving from the Hindu-Buddhist period in Java also hints at goldwork, including a star flower motif still used in songket. Early evidence remains thin and is read with care.

Courts and ceremonies

Royal households took songket into their dress. In Sumatra it was worn at the court of Srivijaya, and later by the Deli, Serdang, Palembang and Jambi royal houses; in the Malay Peninsula it is linked with the sultanates of Pattani, Kelantan and Terengganu. Brunei's court includes it in ceremonial costume, a practice that began in the reign of Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddien III. Away from the palace it belongs to weddings and religious festivals. Brides and grooms at Palembangese, Minangkabau and Balinese weddings wear it, as a sarong, a shoulder cloth, a head tie or the folded tanjak headdress.

Rank and memory

The cloth has long said something about the person wearing it. In Palembang certain motifs were reserved for bangsawan, the nobles and aristocrats, and the lepus design was among them. Widows in old Palembang wore a conspicuous selendang, or shoulder cloth, which made their position known; one motif was for a widow free to remarry, another for a widow who was a bride. Once the sultanate fell, songket moved beyond the upper class. Fine old pieces made with genuine gold thread are still treasured as pusaka, heirlooms passed down inside a family.

Today and change

Everyday songket is now woven with manufactured thread, often nylon that mimics gold, so the cloth costs far less than it once did. Genuine gold-thread pieces survive but are few. People mostly wear songket as traditional costume for weddings and ceremonies, while designers and promoters try to bring it into wider fashion. West Sumatran songket was shown in the Netherlands in colonial times. In August 2015 Sawahlunto in West Sumatra held a songket carnival with a parade and displays by weaving studios from across the province. Recognition followed: national listing in Malaysia, and UNESCO in 2021.

How Songket is kept

Women have traditionally been the weavers, though men now work at the loom as well. Making a piece means setting up silk or cotton as the base, then, row by row, lifting a group of crosswise threads and tucking gold or silver thread beneath them so the pattern grows. Pattern and colour follow local custom. The finished cloth is worn rather than displayed: tied as a sarong, draped over the shoulder, wound as a head tie, or folded into the tanjak headdress. It comes out for a wedding, a festival or a court occasion, and afterwards it is folded away or passed down in the family.

When and where

There is no single day for songket. It is worn when a ceremony calls for it: a wedding, a religious festival, a court occasion or a traditional social function. Families and hosts fix the date. Looms work through the year.

Songket belongs to Brunei, Indonesia and Malaysia. Production centres in Indonesia include Palembang in South Sumatra, the Minangkabau highlands of West Sumatra, Bali, Lombok, Sambas, Sumbawa, Makassar and Sulawesi. In Malaysia it is linked with Kelantan and Terengganu. Trade, movement and marriage also carried it around maritime Southeast Asia, including to Singapore.

What Songket means

For those who wear it, songket marks a moment as important. Gold thread once stood for wealth and rank, and a particular motif could announce who a person was: an aristocrat, a widow or a bride. The same cloth can honour a wedding or be kept as pusaka, an heirloom handed down. Its shine reads as dignity rather than display, and putting it on is a way of showing respect for the occasion and for the people gathered.

Questions people ask about Songket

See also

UlosA hand-woven textile of the Batak people in Indonesia, worn for warmth and ceremony.Baju MelayuThe long-sleeved Malay man's shirt and trousers, formal national dress in Malaysia and BruneiKebayaA front-opening blouse and wrapped cloth, worn by women across Southeast AsiaIkatA resist-dyeing craft from Southeast Asia, where yarns are tied and dyed before weaving

Good reading and sources

• SongketUNESCO, Heritage listing
• SongketUNESCO, Article

• Songket on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• More photos on Wikimedia CommonsPhotos and video
• Wikidata recordOpen data

It may contain mistakes. Traditions differ from one family, village and community to the next, and the people who keep them know them best. If something is wrong, tell us. Last refreshed 2026-10-05.