Made in the Philippines: The Rise of the Fashion Palabas

In the decades after WWII, and coinciding with developments that sought to formalize Philippine economic independence, the display of Filipino couture (high fashion) became nationally significant. The fashion show, already a feature of society pages in the 1940s, climbed to new heights of social and cultural awareness. The spectacle of Filipino fashion during the 1950s and 1960s was particularly important, as the Philippine government and business leaders sought to capitalize on the Philippines’ potential in both Western and Asian markets. In this talk, I recover the history of the fashion show’s importance as a local, national, and transnational spectacle. I built upon scholarship by Lucy Mae San Pablo Burns and Doreen Fernandez who have theorized forms of “palabas” (Tagalog for show) manifested in the carnival, beauty pageant, and religious procession. The traveling fashion show became a way of both knitting together the Philippines as a nation even as it also produced a version of the nation for global display.

Denise Cruz (she/hers) is Professor and Chair of English and Comparative Literature.  She writes and teaches about gender and sexuality in national and transnational cultures. She is the author of Transpacific Femininities: the Making of the Modern Filipina, the editor of Yay Panlilio’s The Crucible: The Autobiography of Colonel Yay, Filipina American Guerrilla, and she has published essays in American Literature, American Quarterly, American Literary History, PMLA, the Journal of Asian American Studies, and Modern Fiction Studies. She is also the recipient of several teaching awards, including Columbia’s Presidential Teaching Award.

Hosted by the Yuchengco Philippine Studies Program.