Overview

The clothing style and fashion sense of the Filipinos in the modern-day era have been influenced by their native ancestors: their Spanish colonizers (the Philippines was a colony of the Spanish Empire for around 333 years), the Americans (the Philippines was a territory of the United States for about 46 years), and even the Japanese (Japanese soldiers occupied the Philippines during World War II for 4 years), as evidenced by the chronology of events that occurred in Philippine history.

At present, Filipinos conform their way of dressing, in addition to the above factors, as a result of the influence of what is shown by the media on television fashion shows, among others.

Apart from "colonial influences" and "media influence", the Filipino style of clothing had been dictated by the climate in the Philippines. With a tropical climate (dry and rainy seasons), early Filipinos – as well as the still extant tribal groups in the Philippines – wore colorful woven clothes, often with "intricate beadwork" and other ornaments.

Other items of native clothing during pre-Spanish Philippines were the canga and the bahag. The canga is a type of a collarless shirt – which later became adorned with laces, trimmings, buttons, and a collar – was where from the Barong Tagalog evolved. On the other hand, the bahag was a type of loincloth or G-string.

Present-day Filipinos, due to climatic reasons, prefer to wear T-shirts combined with maong (jeans) trousers for men and skirts for women. The "jeans and T-shirts" combination was introduced to the Filipinos by the Americans.

A common attire while at home are ordinary puruntongs (singular: puruntong, a type of pair of shorts or Capri pants) combined with sleeveless shirts or T-shirts. During the rainy season and cold evenings in December and January, some Filipinos wear hooded jackets.