The Terno is the national attire for women in the Philippines. It has been called a masterpiece, a classic, a national treasure. Terno, from the Spanish word meaning “to match”. The Filipino Terno alludes to the matching of blouse and skirt, joined at the waist to form a one-piece creation, with both bodice and skirt made of the same material. It is known for its inventive feature: its upright sleeve, flat against the shoulders like clipped butterfly wings.

The national dress didn’t start the way it looks today. In fact, the elegant Terno was the coming together of the innovations of many. It is the product of craft and skill in design of the Filipina. It reveals the mind of the Filipina as she related to herself, to her society, to her times, and to the world. It speaks volumes of a heritage that spanned decades of multi-cultural influences and raw patriotism. The Terno is not just a style it is a legacy.

This article will focus on it’s evolving silhouette: The delicate butterfly sleeves, the train, and the panuelo. We will discover the Terno’s elaborate history and why it is a Filipina’s treasure. We will learn how the Terno evolved through periods of time in Philippine History.

EVOLUTION OF THE TERNO

Spanish Colonial
Like their menfolk, the female natives of the archipelago, gradually covered their upper torsos with short, sleeved collarless blouses called baro, through the four hundred years of colonization. And what was, since ancient times, an all-purpose brief wrap-around skirt much like sarong evolved into the long skirts called saya. As we put these two words together we have “Baro’t Saya” the name of the attire that was dominant in the eighteenth century. Interestingly the saya was generally fashioned out of opaque plaid or striped cotton and sinamay varieties, while the baro was rather stubbornly made quite persistently of sheer fabrics.

The saya remained unelaborated until the period of intensified global trade. But the baro was almost immediately devoted the most laborious artistry, expressed in embroidery and supplementary weft floats. The Spanish presence was echoed in the patterning of the baro: floriate, trellis-like, lace-like designs soon enough to create the standard ”look.”

The development of the panuelo took its place as women conformed to rules of modesty. Since the baro was made of fine material, a piece of cloth of the same fabric as the saya was worn over the baro to cover the breasts.

Towards the mid-nineteenth century, the skirt became slightly fuller than before. It shows the traces of the bell shape, which had become fashionable in Europe. The sleeves of the baro became slightly wider, and had bigger embroidered cuffs. The panuelo also bigger and more elaborately adorned with intricate floral designs. By the 1850s, the bell-shaped saya became wider and circular in shape and the crinoline skirt was worn which was fashionable in Europe till the 1870s.

American Colonial and the Commonwealth
A style emerged in the 1880s, which was later known as the Maria Clara, the name of a hreatbroken heroine of martyr Dr. Jose Rizal’s novel, Noli Me Tangere, of 1887. The maria Clara consists of four separate pieces: the collarless waist-length, bell-sleeved camisa; the bubble-shaped, floor-length saya: the stiff, neck covering panuelo: and the hip-hugging, knee length tapis, or overskirt. The camisas was made of pina material and was cut slightly above the waist. The sleeves flared out into broad scallops. The panuelo, also made of pina continued to be worn around the neck and its ends were pinned with a brooch at the breast. At the height of the Maria Clara’s popularity, the saya came in panels of contrasting colors. The practice of stiffly starching the camisa and the panuelo also appeared in the late 1890s.

It was the peak moment of Americana in the Philippines: movies, musicals, magazines! And the Manila Carnival (started in December of 1908) was the center stage for that stunning Filipino costume creation of the new century, the traje de mestiza.

The silhouettes of Hollywood screen goddesses and the Gibson Girl cast a sleek shadow on the wide and bouffant shape of the Maria Clara, sculpting it to a closer-fitting style.

The traje de mestiza was in fact the “Maria Clara”, trimmed into a shapely modernity. The camisa became a clinging bodice, with the sleeves pushed up and cut shorter to be an abbreviated leg-o-mutton. The saya deflated to a slim column the burst out at the hem into a flare or train.

The traje de mestiza was jazzed up in the tune with the Jazz Age! The skirt took the spotlight, elongating at the back to form a saya de cola, a long train which was either pointed, rounded, tongue-shaped, or square.

World War II and Japanese Colonization
The twenties was the age of the Balintawak, a less sophisticated version of the Traje de Mestiza popular in rural areas. The skirt matched the color of the camisa. On top of the skirt was the tapis (overskirt) made of cotton with plaid, striped, or windowpane checks in bright colors. In place of the panuelo, an alampay or piece of cloth made of the same material as the tapis was folded into a rectangular piece slung over the right shoulder. In the 1930s, the Balintawak was adopted for formal wear.

Also in the 1920s, a new style called the Kimona appeared, which was inspired by the Japanese kimono. It is a short heavy boxlike blouse made of fine imported or local material, which was worn over a skirt that tapered down to a narrow bottom. The blouse was often decorated with embroidery, beads, and sewuins, patchwork, or hand painted designs.

The twenties also marked the series of transformations from the Traje de Mestizo to the Terno, from the Spanish meaning, “to match”. The terno alludes to the matching of the camisa and saya of printed material with the plain tapis. This was achieved by utilizing matching fabrics, identical patterns, and motifs in embroidery, cutwork, and hand painting. The panuelo also matched the camisa with decorations of embroidery, beads, or lace appliqués. By the late 1920s, the camisa sleeves finally stood proudly upright with the creases becoming well defined.

In 1935, the Terno underwent a silhouette movement, this time to a close-fitting, one piece gown whose bottom had bias cut inserts, pleats, and flounces, During the war women’s concern shifted to keeping the body and soul together.

Independence and the Third Republic
As life returned to normal with the end of the war in 1945, social affairs began to pick up almost simultaneously with rehabilitation. Fashion shows, charity balls, state and other functions filled the social calendar and set the stage for the revival of the Terno. By then, the silhoueete of the Terno became spontaneous and unpredictable because of the great variety of imported fabrics available in the country.

In 1947, the most drastic and most controversial development in the Terno silhouette occurred. Victoria Lopez-Araneta appeared in public without a panuelo, which until then had been considered an essential accessory of the Terno. This event was outraged by those who felt that the removal of the panuelo was a mockery. The younger and trendier women however greeted the innovation with enthusiasm.

With the panuelo gone, the focus turned to the skirt. It gave couturiers greater freedom to experiment. The skirt would become flared, sheathed, shirred, or princess cut. Different silhouettes called for different materials: chiffon, organdy, nylon, tulle, silk, jersey, georgette, and crepe. Immediately after the war, the hunger for glamour took place. Elegance and glitter described the Terno. Embellishments of gold dust, sequins, and beads on the Terno were very fashionable.

Marcos Regime
In the 1960s, the fashion trends, which immediately caught on, were the A-line, the H-line, the Empire, Princess cut, and the pencil cut. Clean and simple figure hugging Ternos were in fashion with pleats, drapes, or flying panels.

The younger generation of designers focused their attention on innovative treatments and embellishments of the Terno. The Terno could be a strapless gown or have spaghetti straps and be converted into a Terno simply by adding the butterfly sleeves which were now above the elbow.

Toward the mid-1960s, the lavish use of glitter and other decorations transformed the simple silhouette into fabulous creations, with machine embroidery, beads, pearls, sequins, rhinestones, and plastic teardrop borealis on the hem, bodice, neckline and sleeve achieving a variety of stunning effects. Hand painting became a favorite decoration.

In the 1970s, First Lady Imelda Marcos popularized the Terno in local and international functions.
Now recognized as the national dress, the Terno continues to be worn in state functions and during national holidars. The odler generation of women still captivated with the Terno wore it for Sunday wear, graduations, and family reunions.

Despite all these fashion shifts, however, the Terno retained its identity mainly because of the butterfly sleeves, now somewhat shorter. With the tapis, the cola, and the panuelo gone, the butterfly sleeves were the last mainstay of the Filipina dress.