Thebaro't saya orbaro at saya (literally "blouse and skirt") is atraditional dress ensemble worn bywomen in the Philippines. It is anational dress of thePhilippines and combines elements from both the precolonialnative Filipino and colonialSpanish clothing styles.^[1] It traditionally consists of four parts: a blouse (baro orcamisa), a long skirt (saya orfalda), akerchief worn over the shoulders (pañuelo,fichu, oralampay), and a short rectangular cloth worn over the skirt (thetapis orpatadyong).^[2]

Thebaro't saya has multiple variants, known under the collective termFilipiniana, including thearistocratictraje de mestiza (also called theMaría Clara); theVisayankimona with its short-sleeved orponcho-like embroidered blouse paired with apatadyong skirt; as well as the unifiedgown known as theterno, and its casual andcocktail dress version, thebalintawak.^[1] The masculine equivalent of thebaro't saya is thebarong tagalog.^[3]

Baro't saya is a contraction of "baro at saya", literally meaning "blouse and skirt", fromTagalogbaro ("shirt" or "clothing") andsaya (from Spanish "skirt").^[4]

TheBaro't saya is an ensemble that traditionally consists of four parts: the blouse (baro orcamisa), a long skirt (saya orfalda), akerchief worn over the shoulders (pañuelo,fichu, oralampay), and a short rectangular cloth worn over the skirt (thetapis orpatadyong).^[2]

Baro't saya evolved from two pieces of clothing worn by both men and women in thepre-colonial period of the Philippines: thebaro (alsobarú orbayú in otherPhilippine languages), a simple collar-less shirt or jacket with close-fitting long sleeves;^[5] and thetapis (also calledpatadyong in theVisayas andSulu Archipelago, andmalong inMindanao), a short rectangular or tube-like cloth worn wrapped around at waist or chest-height and secured with belts, braided material, or knotted over one shoulder. Women also usually worebracelets over thebaro.^[6] These types of clothing still survive in non-Christianized groups in the Philippines.^[5]

The Spanish clergy during the colonial period deemed the precolonial mode of dress as immodest for women and introduced the long skirt (known by the Spanish namesaya orfalda) to be worn under thetapis. In the Visayas, thepatadyong was tolerated for longer, although it was eventually also replaced with thesaya in the 19th century.^[5][7][8]

By the late 18th century, the traditional everyday wear of women in the Philippines consisted of two basic pieces of clothing known as thepares ("pair"). This consisted of asaya reaching up to the ankles (usuallycheckered) and a collar-lessbaro orcamisa (usually plain or striped). The namepares was more closely associated with the skirt, which unlike latersaya were narrow and sheath-like, resembling precolonialtapis. They were secured at the waist by strings and had wide, flat pleats along the waistline held together by pins. Thebaro was more or less identical to precolonialbaro, with long narrow sleeves. Like later ensembles, these two pieces of clothing were usually complemented by atapis (which was now worn as an overskirt) and akerchief around the shoulders known as thepañuelo,fichu, oralampay (made from the same opaque material as the skirts).^[5]

The fabrics used for earlysayas were usually native textiles (particularly textiles made by highlanderVisayans inPanay). Later on in the 19th century, they began to use similar imported textiles, most notably thecambaya imported fromIndia.^[5]

The narrow width of the 18th-centuryparessaya, however, made them impractical for everyday life. By the 1820s to 1840s, thesaya was replaced by a billowy western-style skirt known as thesaya a la mascota. For women of the upper classes (principalia), they were usually ankle-length; while for women in the lower classes, they usually reached down to mid-calf to facilitate freer movement while working. Knee-length versions were also allowed for young girls.^[5]

Designs and elements of the dress also later diverged sharply between the lower classes and the aristocraticPrincipalia classes from the mid-19th century onwards. Thetapis for example, which was unique to Philippine women's attire, became much shorter between the 1840s to the 1860s. Due to this, they became more restricted to the nativeindios, while Spanish women and somemestizas avoided wearing it because of its resemblance to thedelantal (aprons) worn by servants. This dichotomy was depicted inJosé Rizal's 1887 novelNoli Me Tángere where themestiza protagonistMaría Clara wore atapis and a baro't saya, while the pretentious Doña Consolación (a native married to apeninsular) wore European-style dresses without thetapis.^[5]

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  19th-centurycamisa from theMetropolitan Museum of Art
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  Una Mestiza byJuan Luna depicting a woman in abaro't saya (c.1887)
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  "La India del Campo Vendedora" byJustiniano Asuncion (c.1855)
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  La Lavandera byMiguel Zaragoza in theMuseo del Prado (c.1875)
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  Baro't saya worn by amestizo de sangley couple by Jean Mallat de Bassilan (c.1846)
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  A dancer wearing a moderntraje de mestiza at the 2015Richmond Filipino Festival
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  Woman wearing abaro't saya during the 2007Asian Pacific American Heritage Month inHawaii
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  Filipina woman wearingbaro't saya while working.
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  Visayan girl wearing baro't saya while performingTinikling.
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  Visayan Kimona
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  Traditional Corpiño which is the undergarment covering the torso, especially the chest, and is part of the whole Baro't Saya attire
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  Filipina embroiderers
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  A moderntraje de mestiza worn by a dancer in the 2023Sinulog Festival ofCebu

• Fashion and clothing in the Philippines
• Barong tagalog
• Manila shawl
• Maria Clara gown
• China poblana

• Media related toBaro't saya at Wikimedia Commons

• National symbols of the Philippines
• Philippine clothing
• Women in the Philippines
• History of Asian clothing
• Dresses

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Commons category link from Wikidata