The future of fashion is deeply-rooted in the heritage of everydaywear as the Balintawak is celebrated for the upcoming TernoCon.

A laid-back version of the terno that became popular in the 1920s and 30s, the balintawak harks back to the supposedly simpler life of the country. A series of hand-tinted photographs from the 1930s showing Manila women styled with agricultural props suggests that this countryside fashion was more of a look than a lifestyle, a studio recreation of Fernando Amorsolo’s romanticized vision of rural life. “They enthusiastically held up Japanese fans, baskets, clay pots, fishing tools and farming implements against painted backdrops depicting quaint rural scenery. The postcard photos were then distributed to friends and family with heartfelt dedications,” describes TernoCon artistic director Gino Gonzales in his essay “The Philippine Dress: 500 Years of Straddling Polarities.”

Gonzales notes that this pining for the province came in response to the rapid urbanization and Americanization that the Philippine capital was experiencing in that era. Fittingly, this year’s TernoCon, the third iteration of the intensive months-long terno design workshop and competition presented by the Cultural Center of the Philippines and retail giant Bench, is all about the balintawak. The pandemic has seen the exodus of many fortunate city dwellers to their seaside abodes or vacation farms. Those who remained locked down in their apartments took to slow-living pastoral pursuits like growing plants and baking bread. The balintawak, with its looser, softer forms and more festive patterns is the post-pandemic Filipino dress that speaks to our present balik bukid (or return to countryside) sensibilities.

Previous

Next