Men's Clothing from Mindanao in the Late 19th and Early 20th Century

A sample of men's clothing from Mindanao during the late 19th century or early 20th century.

The clothing style and fashion sense of the Filipinos in the modern-day era has been influenced by their native ancestors, the Spaniards (the Philippines was a colony of the Spanish Empire for around 300 years), the Americans (the Philippines was a territory of the United States for about 50 years), and even the Japanese (Japanese soldiers occupied the Philippines during World War II), as evidenced by the chronology of events that occurred in Philippine history.[1] 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, cinema, and 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 - wear colorful woven clothes, often with "intricate beadwork" and other ornaments. Other 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.

Traditional Outfit
Barong Tagalog
The Barong Tagalog (simply Baro, popularly but mistakenly called Barong) is an embroidered formal dress from the Philippines. It is very lightweight and worn untucked (similar to a coat/dress shirt), over an undershirt. In lowland Christian Filipino culture it is common formal attire, especially at weddings, and is mostly worn by men.

HISTORY
The word Barong is a coined word that comes from the Filipino word "baro" meaning outfit. Similar to the Malaysian Baju which translates to Dress. The term "Barong Tagalog" literally means "Tagalog dress" in Filipino. The term was originally used to describe what people, both men and women, typically wore in the Tagalog region during the Spanish era. In time, the term caught on with the shirt alone, and the other styles of dresses got their own names (e.g. maria clara, baro't saya, magsasaka, kamisa de chino, and terno). The term Barong Tagalog has been for so long been shortened by native Filipino speakers into "Barong". Grammatically, Barong is not a word that can stand alone. It has a suffix "-ng" which implies that a word that an adjective, or a word that modifies it must directly follow. The root word of barong is "baro".

Baro't saya
The Baro’t saya is the unofficial national dress of the Philippines. The name is a contraction of the Tagalog words baro at saya. Saya is women's dress while the baro means outfit. Baro sometimes mean men's top. Barong tagalog is a contraction of baro ng tagalog. meaning a tagalog's clothing.

HISTORY
This indigenous mode of dressing of the natives of the Philippines was influenced during the Spanish Colonization of the archipelago. In early pre-history, the half-naked style consisting of only the saya (long wrap-around) or tapis (knee-length wrap-around) covering the lower half of the body with bare upper torso, was gradually covered with a collarless blouse called a "baro", which is the Philippine cognate of the Malay "baju".
The early pre-colonial clothing of groups such as the Tagalogs and Visayans included both the baro and saya made from silk in matching colours. This style was exclusively worn by the women from the upper caste, while those of lower castes wore baro made from pounded white bark fibre. Modern groups whose attire still closely resembles these more ancient forms of dress include the Tumandok people of Panay—the only Visayan group that were not hispanised; various Moro peoples; and the indigenous Lumad tribes in interior Mindanao.[1]
Under the Spanish colonisation, the basic outfit had evolved into a many-layered ensemble consisting of several pieces: kimona, or inner blouse. baro, an often gauzy outer shirt with fine embroidery and wide sleeves. pañuelo or piano shawl, starched to achieve a raised look. naguas or starched petticoat. The name is derived from the Spanish enagua, and is mentioned in the folk song Paru-parong Bukid ("Farmland Butterfly"). saya or the skirt proper. This is laid over the naguas and either bunched at the back to mirror the then-fashionable polonaise or given a de cola or finely-embroidered train. tapis, a descendant of the pre-colonial wraparound skirt, which covers the upper half of the saya.

MARIA CLARA
The María Clara gown is a traditional gown worn by women in the Philippines. This Filipino dress takes its name from María Clara, the mestiza protagonist of the national epic Noli Me Tángere, penned in 1890 by Filipino national hero José Rizal. It has been connected to the María Clara character because of her traits: delicate, feminine, self-assured and with a sense of identity. The María Clara outfit is the only Philippine national attire that is named after a literary figure. HISTORY
The María Clara dress originated from the conventional baro't saya of early Filipino women. The baro't saya consists of a loose, long-sleeved blouse, which is then worn over a wide, ankle-length skirt.
The attire is composed of four pieces, namely the camisa, the saya, the pañuelo (a scarf, also spelled panuelo) and the tapis. The camisa is a collarless chemise whose hem is at the waist, and is made from flimsy, translucent fabrics such as pineapple fiber and jusi. The sleeves of the camisa are similar to the so-called "angel wings", or shaped like bells that have cuffs. The pañuelo is a stiff covering for the neck, which acts as an accent piece because of embellishments added to it. The purpose of the pañuelo is related to modesty, used to cover the low-necked camisa'. The saya is a skirt shaped like a bubble with a length that begins from the waist reaching the floor. These are usually comprised either of single or double sheets, called "panels" or dos panos (lit. "two panels/layers"); some examples are made out of seven gores or siete cuchillos (lit. "seven knives"). The tapis is a knee-length over-skirt that hugs the hips. Tapis designs may be plain, and is usually made of opaque fabrics such as muslin and the madras cloth, and also is used for the purposes of modesty as it keeps the lower torso from showing due to the thinness of the saya.