Filipino culture is not basically damaged the only thing that has been damaged is the miseducation of Filipinos about their own history which results on the impairment of Filipino’s viewpoint on culture. Values and customs that colonizers brought to the country have altered their ideology through time and as a result Filipinos has been following the fad. However, before the colonization, Filipino identity was not yet established, thus the foundation of Philippine’s naturalistic identity and character was basically colonially inspired. Through the teachings and traditions that have been shared by the colonizers to the country, Philippines grew and became a very foreign country. The Filipino people however did try to determine their own Filipino character but the foreign character they had acquired during the hundreds and hundreds of years remained inevitable. And talking about Filipinos as good imitators, Filipino fashion styles is very hard to distinguish because Filipinos are bind on their colonial mentality. On the contrary, Filipino fashion trends are now getting more like of Korean styles. This is very obvious on the choice of clothes, new hairstyles, bling-blings or accessories and on the shade of make-up depicted most especially on Filipino women.
As I walked along the streets I noticed many Filipinos are trying to be like Koreans. I really wonder why Filipinos’ traditional dressing is now overpowered by these foreign fashion.
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| Baro't Saya |
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| Barong Tagalog |
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| "Hanbok" |
On the other hand, Korea’s traditional clothing was called “Hanbok” an abbreviation of the term Han-guk pokshik (Korean attire). This was originally come from China and has been worn during the ancient times and is worn by Koreans of all ages, particularly on traditional holidays and when attending social affairs. It is characterized by simple lines and no pockets. The women's hanbok comprise a wrap skirt and a bolero-like jacket, and the men's, roomy pants bound at the ankles and a short jacket. Some of the basic elements of today's hanbok, namely the jacket (chogori) and pants (paji), were probably worn at a very early date, but it was not until the Three Kingdoms period that the two-piece costume of today began to evolve. Short, tight trousers and tight, waist-length jackets were worn by both men and women during the early part of the period as evidenced by ancient tomb paintings.
The reasons behind these changes are because Koreans are rampant in the country, not only of their presence but also their styles. One good example is the production of Korean market especially on clothing lines. There are many Korean stores selling Korean designs and fashion styles. And because Filipinos are known to be very practical they prefer to buy on Korea’s trading for it is cheaper and already fashionable. Another factor is because of the mass media, particularly on televisions. Nowadays TV networks prefer to air Korean shows rather than Filipino ones. Maybe because of this why Filipinos get to know more about Korea’s fashion trends and then imitate it immediately.
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| Triangular shaped hair |
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| red dyed hair with bangs |
Hairstyles of Filipinos are now changed. Short haircut, triangle cut for oval shaped face,long messy hair for men while on women are long curly hair, they also love to emphasize their face with straight bangs and dyed hair so even Filipinos are do not look good they still try to imitate them.
Clothes and shoes are now more like of Korean ones.
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| the 2NE1 |
~ Pop art shirts
~ Neon color high cut pop shoes
~ Colorful leggings
~ Bold color accessories
~ Colorful Makeup (Yellow / Green eyeshadow + exaggerated eyelashes)
~ Neon color high cut pop shoes
~ Colorful leggings
~ Bold color accessories
~ Colorful Makeup (Yellow / Green eyeshadow + exaggerated eyelashes)
To obtain this style, you can coordinate by a pop art loose fitting shirt (one which you feel is the best on you) together with a colorful fitting leggings. For best “trendy” results, you can match with torn cutting leggings or skinny jeans.Another important coordinate – Neon colour high cut pop shoes. The neon colours coming up are neon blue, neon lime and neon raspberry. They are currently gaining popularity in Korea.This fashion statements were basically rampant in the market with its very accessible price Filipinos especially women are following this icon.
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| Korean make up style |
Lastly, we move on to accessories and makeup. To further enhance your fashion style, accessories is a must have trendy item. In particular, there are 2 affordable items which are colorful bangles and child-size glamorous sunglasses. Both are the current favorites among young Korean teenagers now which are now visible in most of the Filipino women. Colorful makeup is also a big yes in Korea. For this, you will need to use a variety of colors to create a youthful look. For example by applying orange color lipstick and emphasizing only the eyes putting dark mascaras and eyeliners.
I really wonder what will happen to our own fashion trends, well in fact Filipinos do not have any originality, what they have acquired are basically base from the colonizers or from what it in. So I asked one of my teachers in my former school about his opinions and reactions to this sudden change. As a Psychology teacher, his concerns are more on the effects of the next generations to follow because as time goes by, Filipino identity will surely become unknown and foreign to ourselves. He also said that being born and aged in the 80’s where fashion was still good in his eyes , he is very disappointed about this changes.
To sum it all up,it doesn’t necessarily need to be made from “Korea” but rather just pattern it with what you see on your favorite icons. We usually base it from what we see on drama series and music videos for singers. They have influenced us so much that even on dance competitions on television, the contestants play Korean songs and pattern their clothes from what they see on the music video or pictures they see on the net. Some people wear “Korean-inspired” clothes just because it’s playful, light and very wearable. That’s why we people patronize them so much because of it’s easy accessibility.
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