Pina

I've been getting a lot more requests from Filipino brides to design a dress that reflects our culture. I've always strayed away from going too traditional. The sleeves of a typical Filipiniana or Maria Clara dress, however beautiful, symbolize the implementation of patriarchy brought on by Spanish colonization. Well, for me it does. So, I always suggest using Filipino fabrics with modern design.

Growing up here in Canada, I didn't know too much about the fabrics that are native to my home land, so I began researching the different kinds: sinamay, jusi, and pina. I had to find out how the textile industry in the Philippines works: Are the workers are treated fairly? Is it an eco-friendly and sustainable product, etc.? I found this article, that pretty much sold me on pina.

During Spanish colonization, the natives were not allowed to wear imported fabrics. They could only wear fabrics made from the plants that were indigenous to the land. Thus the production of pina (pinapple leaf fibers) and sinamay (abaca leaf fibers), etc. They started embroidering their clothing in defiance, with the idea that despite their oppression you couldn't stifle their will.

Pina was a staple in Filipino dress up until the 60s. The popularization of cotton, and other synthetic fibers imported by the Americans, resulted in the decline of the textile industry. By the 1980s, pina fabric was almost extinct, the skills almost lost.

Domestic support to cultivate Philippine arts & crafts and culture helped revive the fledgling industry. Since then pina has slowly been reintroduced to the world, demanded by designers as far as Europe and the US for it's unique quality and sustainability, despite it's rarity.

It is very labour intensive, everything is done by hand. It takes about 1 week to weave a meter, and about 2 months to fully embroider a meter of pina fabric. The cost is equivalent to about $100 CAD a meter for a hand embroidered piece, probably more depending on where it is sourced, how many middle men are involved.

It take years to train a weaver and an embroiderer, and there are only a few places in the Philippines, such as Aklan province, were you can learn, making the skill a true art form.

" Weaving and embroidery jobs enable women, especially, to earn salaries that allow them to be home rather than being forced to travel abroad to become domestic workers."

The Philippine government seems it would rather depend more on the remitted income of their expatriates than focus on developing their national industry, and the skills of the people who are left behind.

The decision on a pina dress not only expresses the pride we have of our beautiful culture, but it invests in the development of our kababayan, and the knowledge of our history of resistance.

Pina began as a fabric for the people, by the people. Let's keep that going.

-nang bong

http://www.cool-organic-clothing.com/pina-fiber.html

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-jyXilNLdY&hl=en&fs=1]