While Americana fashion styles appear more frequently in the visual records of our collections, there were also instances of these men wearing a traditional menswear of the Philippines: barong tagalog. The WIITH archive includes a Barong Tagalog with Bahay Kubo and Tinikling Dancers that can be found in the Irao-de los Reyes and Ibao Family Collection. The barong tagalog also appeared to be used as a cultural display in performances and atop the parade floats during the Fourth of July event as seen in Tuzon Band on a Float on 4th of of July, 1977 in the Tuzon Family Collection. 

The barong tagalog is properly referred to as “baro ng Tagalog” or the dress of the Tagalog, a region and ethnolinguistic group of the Luzon region. Like the baro’t saya, the barong tagalog has its origins in pre-hispanic Philippines. Over time, the lines, lengths, and details of the barong tagalog were influenced by Chinese, Indo-Malay, and Hindu clothing styles. While the Spanish had enforced modesty over women’s clothing, for men’s clothing, they turned the barong tagalog into the dress of the educated, wealthier class.