Singapore Airlines’ Sarong Kebaya

The stewardesses of Singapore Airlines wear an iconic sarong kebaya that is recognised around the world. Recently, it was reported that Blackpink’s Lisa was enamoured by the sarong kebaya during a flight and begged her mother to buy the uniform for her upon landing in Singapore. This article from Mothership sheds some light on the history of this uniform, which is almost as old as Singapore.

You would think that SIA’s uniform is a global icon by now, but it appears that some people at Depop did not get the memo.

The listing on Depop

Depop is a fashion marketplace that is similar to Shein and Zara. It is based in London and it also doubles up as a resale and social media platform where sellers and buyers can message one another directly.

A particular listing on Depop caught the eye of Leyla Rose.

She saw a model posing with the Singapore Airlines uniform, but the description of the outfit read “Vintage African Ankara Dress Co-ord Two Poece Set Skirt Floral Geometric Pattern Zip Up Side Slit Strap Button Up Top 3/4 Sleeves High Waist Indie Clothing Light Unisex 90s Y2K”.

Leyla was astonished by the listing. She tweeted that Depop was “wild” and asked how the person who posted the listing is “selling a Singapore Airlines uniform and calling it ‘vintage African’??”

The Price

The dress was selling for 49 pounds, which is approximately 83 Singapore Dollars.

For comparison, the SIA Sarong Kebaya for children is priced at SGD 85 on the KrisFlyer website.

On other platforms like Shoppee and Lazada, the sarong kebaya retails at around 50 SGD.

Reactions

Leyla’s tweet attracted more than 1,000 retweets and 3,000 likes within 19 hours. Judging by the quote tweets section, it has appeared to unite South East Asia against the puzzling listing.

I guess it's time to promote my work! I'm a freelance travel and food writer based between Lombok, Indonesia and Liverpool, UK. Commission me for work! 🤗https://t.co/UcC7NPxn1m

— Leyla Rose (@leylarosewrites) June 23, 2022

In addition to the listing, Leyla also poked fun at the model’s pose.

“That aside, I too like to know what my outfit would look like lying backwards over a chair”

Perhaps that was simply the model’s reaction to the categorisation of the listing.

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