Baro’t Saya (Blouse and skirt)

Unknown designer, Philippines

CFTC #524-528

Gift of Beulah Blackmore

When Blackmore visited the Philippines in 1936 she purchased this dark red baro’t saya (blouse and skirt). The baro’t saya was largely worn by Filipino women in the eighteenth and nineteenth century and is made out of fine cloth or piña also known as pineapple fibre. The arrival of Christian missionaries in the eighteenth century led Filipino women to wear a tapis (underskirt) and a pañuelo (undershirt) for modesty. Spanish colonization in the 1850s further influenced the baro’t saya. The skirt became larger and fuller while the sleeves were shortened and a train was added. By the early twentieth century, it became a symbol of traditional Filipino dress and was only worn for special occasions. However, Filipino suffragettes who advocated for women’s rights also wore the baro’t saya throughout the interwar period in order to reimagine the modern Filipino woman, yet appeal to the desire for a more romanticised image of the Filipino woman. Rather than purchasing a tapis and pañuelo in the Philippines, Blackmore purchased a silk slip in the United States for Dorothy Brayton ‘41 to wear underneath the baro’t saya in the “Costumes of Many Lands”. The slip was hand dyed red in order to match the color of the blouse and skirt. The photograph of Taber wearing the ensemble also illustrates the problematic nature of Blackmore’s display practices that involved students “dressing up” in black or brownface in order to recreate a more “authentic” representation of the Indigenous peoples who wore the garments she collected.