The baro’t saya is the unofficial national dress of the Philippines.
The early pre-colonial clothing of groups such as the Tagalogs and Visayans included both the baro and saya made from silk in matching colours. This style was exclusively worn by the women from the upper caste, while those of lower castes wore baro made from pounded white bark fibre.
Modern groups whose traditional attire still closely resembles these more ancient styles include the Tumandok of Panay— the only Visayan people who were not hispanised; various Moro peoples; and the indigenous Lumad tribes in the interior of Mindanao.
Pre-Hispanic clothing of Tagalog nobility in the 16th century Boxer Codex, featuring a woman dressed in a prototype to the Baro't saya
A family belonging to the Principalía or lowland Christian nobility and aristocracy, wearing the Barong Tagalog and Baro't Saya.