Have a nyonya kebaya cut and embroidered to fit
Cutwork voile, closed with a brooch set
Shops in the old town with tailors on site who cut and embroider the nyonya kebaya to measure, and family workshops making the beaded slippers that go with it. Sixty 3 Heritage is at 63 Jalan Tun Tan Cheng Lock; Bibik House is run by Peranakan sisters.
Why it's unique
The nyonya kebaya is sheer voile with cutwork embroidery down the front panels, fastened with a three-piece kerosang brooch rather than buttons. It is Peranakan dress, and this city still has shops with in-house tailors who make it to measure, plus family workshops where sisters hand-sew the beaded slippers that go with it.
Kebaya is worn across the region, so the claim is about the trade rather than the garment: a nyonya cutwork kebaya cut to your measurements by a bibik workshop is a living trade here rather than a costume sold to visitors. You are commissioning a garment, which takes three days, not buying one off a rail.
Before you go
Sixty 3 has tailors on site and a three-day collection window, and will post the finished piece if you have already left, which is the practical answer for a short trip.
Buy the kerosang at the same time. A kebaya without the brooch set does not close, and the ones sold as souvenirs elsewhere are the wrong scale. Ask which cutwork is machine and which is hand: the price gap is large, and it is visible once it has been pointed out to you.