Lost Identity By: Tini Abayan

It’s amazing to be able to distinguish various fashion styles of each country because then it shows their uniqueness and how they have branded or even associated themselves with a certain style. However, for the longest time, I have been wondering about how Filipinos set themselves apart from all the trendy styles seen nowadays.

Quite frankly, there is no clear definition of what Filipino fashion is. I think we like riding the bandwagon and trying out the newest fashion statements of all the western countries because we think that what they promote is much better than what our local scene advocates. It is truly a devastating phenomenon to see that our own people do not support and even buy Filipino fashion pieces. It goes to show that we are more invested in trying out what other cultures have because it has an image of being more superior or sophisticated than our local styles. This reasoning completely degrades our Filipino identity because it implies that we are of lower tier than all the other cultures and it is a painful truth to realize that we disregard a part of who we are as a person. However, can we blame all the Filipinos avidly supporting fashion rooted in other cultures? A part of me says no, because through time we lost our identity as Filipinos and it all goes back to the times of colonization when we were imposed who we should be and what we should do. We tried becoming like our conquerors because they degraded our race and constantly told us that we were nothing compared to them. The peak of our identity crisis started right there and then. After, comes another set of people take over, and another and another. It was a vicious cycle that led us to think that we had to change who we are just because other people said we should, the virtue of obedience instilled in us Filipinos was indeed a disadvantage during that time. All of this is relevant now because it has become our trait to prioritize buying anything besides local fashion. Our colonial mentality has taken a toll upon all of us which explains our behavior towards various Filipino products. With this, we could say that we have no distinct Filipino image or style that is associated with our culture. We are a mix of different culture styles mashed in one if I may so say and it hurts to see that it has become like this because of our very own citizens. To me, it seems like we are Filipino wannabes who are trying to be something we aren’t. Those people are lost and are looking for something that they could identify as and I hope that with the emergence of the integration of Filipino culture in modern fashion, people can now be able to go back to their roots and form an image or better, a branding of what a Filipino is which will reflect in our fashion as a people.

It would be amazing to distinguish ourselves amongst other cultures with the style we express. To greatly set us apart from all the other cultures around the world would probably be one of our biggest achievements of progress. We cannot stay as wannabes. Our rich culture should be able to reflect on our identity as Filipinos and I firmly believe that one day, we will realize it and we will have a unique fashion branding that would make the whole world turn to us and imitate what we have too.