Kasut Manek

Pair of kasut manek slippers. Pair of kasut manek slippers.

Kasut manek are slippers with beaded toe coverings, worn by Peranakan Chinese women, together with a batik sarong and a kebaya. The Peranakan Chinese are descendants of early overseas Chinese communities in Southeast Asia, including Malaysia, where they adopted various aspects of the indigenous cultures.

Kasut manek toe coverings, executed mostly in counted thread beadwork, were often made by the wearers themselves. Fine examples were embroidered with tiny cut beads, known as manek potong, which came from Bohemia and France. Slippers embroidered with small, smooth seed beads were considered inferior, as they would not have the sparkling effect of cut beads. The completed beaded toe coverings would be sent to Chinese shoemakers to be made into slippers. Kasut manek developed sometime in the 1920's and replaced velvet slippers that were embroidered in floss silk and goldwork.

Sources:

  • AUGER, Timothy (2008). Peranakan Museum A-Z Guide, Singapore: Editions Didier Millet
  • HO, Wing Meng (1987). Straits Chinese Beadwork and Embroidery – A Collector’s Guide, Singapore: Times Book International.

Digital source of illustration (retrieved 28 March 2017).

CN

Last modified on Tuesday, 28 March 2017 18:21