Barong, Barong Tagalog, Filipino Wedding Gown, Filipino Clothing Shop, Binyag, Kimona, Formal Wears 4/5/04 11:33 AM

Do you know your History ?

History of Pineapple Fabric (Piña)
Pineapple fabric was discovered in the early 18th century. This fabric is use to make
shirts being worn by rich businessmen and politicians during that time. This fabric is made
from the leaf of a wild pineapple which can be found only in the western part of the
Visayan Island, Philippines. Fibers are painstakingly extracted from the leaf and made
into threads. These sensitive threads are then patiently hand woven into a fine cloth by
middle aged women using handmade bamboo equipment. The fabric’s width is 26 to 28
inches. A yard of Pineapple cloth can be done in a week time, working ten hours a day.

If the fabric is properly taken cared it can last up to a hundred years. Thus, when made
into a wedding gown it can be inherited by other members of a family in a heirloom
process.

History of the "Jusi" Fabric Banana fabric now commonly called “JUSI” was introduced by the Chinese traders during
the early times. The early Jusi is made up of raw silk coming from the fibers of a
butterfly’s cocoon. Later, when the fabric become well known and demands were high,
manufacturers were force to look for an alternative raw material because butterfly’s
cocoon were very scarce and they discovered that the fiber of a banana stalk is a perfect
alternative. The width of a Jusi fabric is 36 inches and is now produce by the use of
machines. The texture and natural color of the fabric is ideal for embroidery that can be
made into formal wears, gown, and even gift novelty items.

History of Barong Tagalog During the Spanish occupation of the Philippines (over 300 years from 1561-1889) the
barong tagalog was required by the Spanish Government for Filipinos (indios) to be worn
at most times to show the differences between the rich and the poor. He said that the
poor who serve the rich must always be in uniform.

Take their chauffeurs, maids, employees as examples. They are in uniform to

immediately distinguish them from the employers. When the Spaniards colonized the
Filipinos, they had to make it abundantly clear who the boss was through in the imposition
of a dress.

Men were not allowed to tuck their shirttails in. That was the mark of his inferior status.
Second the cloth material should be transparent so that he could not conceal any weapon
that could be used against the master. Third, as a precaution on thievery, pockets are not
allowed on the shirt.

By the of the century a new middle class began to emerge among the Filipinos. These
were known as the principalia. They have mastered Spanish laws and were able to obtain
titles to lands. They became successful in business and agriculture and sent their sons to
be educated abroad. They were privileged to build their houses in the poblacion around
the plaza near the seats of power.

Only the member of the principalia could be addressed by the title DON, and only they
were allowed to vote. They had all the trappings of power and status, but for one
undeniable fact: they still had to wear their shirttails out, if only to remind them that they
were still Indios.

What the Spanish authorities did not smother out was the Filipino's wil power and
determination to psychological conquer their colonial masters, through improvisation and
reinterpretation. The Filipino's stylistic bongga (flashy dresser) was a reaction against the
overt discrimination and insensitive oppression of the Spaniards.

For example, Filipinos were forbidden to use import silk and fabric for their Barong, so
they ingeniously used pineapple leaves to weave the pinya jusicloth of the barong, turning
the outfit into such delicate material, of luminous silky rich mixture much finer silk. And to
add insult to the injury, they hand - embroidered the front with such exquisite abandon:
Calado and hand-work all over.

Palgrave, the ethnographer noted, "The Captain's shirt was the native barong, of fine and
delicate fiber, embroidered and frilled; it was light and cool and not tucked in the
trousers." (Corpuz, 74)

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The Barong Tagalog gained its power, prestige, and status when President Quezon, the
first Filipino president, declared it the National dress. The status of the lowly inferior
Barong thus became another symbols of the Filipinos' resistance to colonization.

After World War II, Philippine presidents began wearing the Barong Tagalog at their
installation into office and on every formal state occasion. In contemporary times the
Barong Tagalog is the power dress. As an abogado de campanilla, you cannot afford not
to wear the Barong Tagalog when arguing a case in the Philippine courts.

Today, every visitor and foreign dignitary invited to a Malacanang Palace state function
must, by necessity, and dictated by protocol, be dressed to the nines in a Barong
Tagalog. The invitations specifically say come in "Barong" instead of the traditional "Coat
and Tie".

Thus, every one invited to dinner at the Presidential Palace and in many Filipino homes
will knowingly and unwittingly have to experience directly, what it feels to have to wear
his shirttails out, to suffer the indignity of having the material of his barong transparent so
that he can not conceal any weapon; and horrors, to be accused directly of incipient
thievery by having no pockets in his barong to put the silver.

So, when El Senor Spanish Ambassador is invited to a state dinner, you can say, "Ah,
what sweet revenge!"

History of Baro't Saya Like their menfolk, the female indigenes of the archipelago, gradually covered their upper
torsos with short, sleeved collarless blouses called bare, through the four hundred years
of colonization. And what was, since ancient times, an all-purpose brief wrap-around skirt-
-metamorphosed into the long skirts called saya. Interestingly the saya was generally
fashioned out of opaque plaid or striped cotton and sinamay varieties, while the baro was
rather stubbornly made quite persistently of sheer fabrics. This two-piece ensemble is the
archetypal clothing of the india of the Philippines.

The saya was to remain unelaborated until the period of intensified global trade. But to
the baro was almost immediately devoted the most laborious artistry, expressed in
embroidery and supplementary weft floats. The Spanish presence was echoed in the
patterning of the baro: floriate, trellis-like, lace-like designs soon enough make for the
standard ”look.”

History of the "Traje de Mestiza" This century’s two world wars book-ended, so to speak, a frenzied phase in Philippine
(Mestiza Gown) history. The nation emerged from a colony, became part of a commonwealth and then
moved on to become a republic—all within AA span of forty years.

It was the peak moment of Americana in the Philippines: movies, musicals, magazines!
And the Manila Carnival was the centerstage for that stunning Filipino costume creation of
the new century, the traje de mestiza.

The silhouettes of Hollywood screen goddesses and the Gibson Girl cast a sleek and
svelte shadow on the hitherto wide and bouffant shape of the Maria Clara, sculpting it to a
closer-fitting style.

The traje de mestiza was in fact the “Maria Clara,: trimmed into a shapely modernity. The
camisa became a clinging bodice, with the sleeves pushed up and cut shorter to be an
abbreviated leg-o-mutton. The saya deflated to a slim column the burst out at the hem
into a flare or train.

The traje de mestiza was jazzed up in the tune with the Jazz Age! The skirt took the
spotlight, elongating at the back to form a saya de cola, the long train which was either
pointed, oval, or square. Or it slithered or swept the floor in a cut called serpentina.

In the postwar years, mention of the traje de mestiza would conjure a vision of splendor
that was the Filipina beauty queen who reigned, in glitter and glamour, at every Carnival.
It was an image that would live on with few subtle changes, until mid-century.

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