Following fashion in the Philippines

At the big Malls cloths are high priced. Cheaper than America but high priced for here. Filippino's are not for most part fancy dressers. They wear more long pants than me. I wear shorts. There big on flip flops. Better shoes when they go out or at work in offices or stores. I do have a cobbler make my shoes & belts here. Good leather last can be resoled so last twice as long. For around U.S. $40 a pair. High end sandles is about all I wear. Polished So high end for here. I always keep some money hid in my billfold.  Polo shirts the real thing. $3 U.S. Bought 6. High end nit shirts brands removed $2 each. Cargo pants good ones $5 to $10.  But you need dig to the bottom of the bins. Turn all over for larger sizes.  Shop in the street markets & discount area's. I see know tourist in these area's. Rare to see a expat. So cloths can be very cheap here. If you look. When you find have some back up money to buy. But not every day shopping at the Malls.  So easy to dress very well here. For cheap. I bought a wool suit here for $10. A Harley Davison jacket 40% wool for $3. From the bins not the Malls. You can go months with out finding any thing. Then when you find buy 3 or more in shirts & pants. Hang them in the back of the closet keep your older to the other side for around the house wear. Every day to center. You can dress well here for very little. But you need shop like a native here. Were cheap cloths are also spreads by word of mouth. If you get along with your neighbors.

For all of my working life ,amost 20 years in the UK and about 18 years in tge UAE ,as  a CEO and an Independent bussiness I had no choice but to wear suits,ties ,and blazers .So every opportunity I got outside the bussiness hours I used to get into jogging clothes in the UK and shorts and sneakers in the UAE.Some how wearing suits was not a happy situation with me  cos it felt like Iwas dressing for other people ,so once I came here it has been nothing but shorts for me and I am very happy cos its comfortable with only occassionaly have to dressup in trousers and suits  for formal gatherings or importantant meetings.What I find in the Philippines eapecially with the middle class Filipinos  here is they are brand and trend  consciense may be even a bit snobby , cos the looks I get when I visit a fine dinning restaurant  just cos I am wearing shorts and T shirts ,but hey I dont care ,at least I am dressing in what I feel comfortable and not borrow to the hilt to keep up with the trend or to please others.My view is dont  dress for others ,do it for your self especially if you are borrowing to be up there .Clothes in the Philippines are cheap ,but when you talk about branded products it even more epensive that UK or Italy.

Hi Priscilla,

I am a Filipina and I would say that most of the Filipinos are practical.  That's the reason why we have a lot of tiangge and ukay ukay stores here in the Philippines.  I believe most of us are more into comfort than being trendy. Also considering that we are a tropical country, shorts and shirts will do for us. 

AS per my previous message I am all for shorts and T shirts ,but you cant deny that there is a lot of snobberry in the middle class ,who love bragging about how they only wear branded items be it at the expense of being borrowed to the hilt just for the bragging rights.So there me a number of people who are practical but a large number are wanna be trend setters who can bearly afford to run their house and thats a shame.