I don't know about the "always" thing Paul, all I know in this respect is what I've seen, and I can never recall seeing ivory dress actually being worn. I'm inclined to think that at least in Solo it could be more a display thing than something that has a place in the dress code.
Ladrangs are used for formal occasions. Ivory should not be exposed to sunlight. Gayams are for non-formal occasions. One really tries to avoid wearing a gayaman when one should be wearing a ladrangan. Just where does a complete ivory gayaman fit in? Just hypothesising now, but maybe at a wayang performance, or a public dance performance, but these days most people choose to wear Levis and batik, rather than Javanese dress.
But then keris are worn all over Jawa, I guess anything goes once you move to Jakarta or Surabaya. Jakarta in particular is not really regarded as a part of Jawa, of course it is not, but I have known a lot of people in Solo who have seemed to regard Jakarta as beyond the Pale, just as in 17th century Ireland only the Pale fell under English authority, and the area beyond the Pale was thought of as uncivilised, barbaric, so these Solo people regard Jakarta as almost a different country, not civilised at all. So, once outside the influence of a kraton, things change.
Why more ivory in Jogja than Solo? Keris in Jogja have become an industry, Jogja itself is easy for outsiders to penetrate, Solo on the other hand is very reserved, secretive, you do not get accepted to the "inside" very easily in Solo, but in Jogja its pretty much a matter of what you are worth. Keris craftsmen in Solo are people who are spread out all over the place and they work alone, in Jogja there can be a community of keris craftsmen. Jogja has higher production, lower standards. If ivory sells, ivory will be produced on the hope of speculative sale. Doesn't work like that in Solo.
The "kendit" is possibly because the carving needed to go close to the skin of the ivory.
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