I started writing the dress code for women posts because I search for it when I am visiting a country for the first time. I disagreed with some of what I read after visiting a destination, so I decided to do my own series. Here is what I observed about the dress code for women in Philippines.
My thoughts are based on a 10 day trip to Philippines where I visited Manila and Boracay. How I interpret the dress code also depends on where I come from, which is India! A 10 day visit makes me no expert but here is what I saw.
I start with Micaela Rodriguez who blogs at Senyorita and is a local. We were speaking at the same panel at TBEX which is a blogging conference and this is the lovely dress she chose to wear with a matching jacket. Short dresses are fine in Philippines.
Here is our guide from Boracay, Homma, in blue on the left, dressed for a day out at sea. She is a local too. Like anywhere in the world, people put their swim suites beneath a short dress so they can get into water when they wish!
I saw these pretty ladies at a show in Manila. And look at their beautiful gowns! I included this picture just to show that how strikingly beautiful the local dresses can be! I can’t imagine this to be normal wear though! If you search for festival gowns they seem to be available for rent too!
This is from a closing night TBEX party at Manila where you can see how social media people dance! I quite admired the guy who danced with his video camera, it must be heavy! The girls were dressed to party!
The days in Manila were hot in October, quite the same for me back home in Delhi too! So you can dress the way you feel comfortable on a sunny day! Dresses, shorts all are fine!
Both bikini and one piece swim suites are fine on the beaches in Boracay and my guess is all over Philippines. So do pack accordingly for your holiday.
To sum up women dress well in Philippines and most of the dresses you wear at home should be fine in Philippines.
PS. I was a speaker at TBEX Malina and my trip to Philippines was sponsored by Philippines Tourism Board!
Great again, Mridula 🙂
Congrats on having spoken on a prestigious platform 🙂
Thank you Amit!
Wow! The gowns are so pretty! It’s nice to know about dress code in Philippines 🙂
Congrats, Mridula 🙂 May you achieve what you dream 🙂
Thank you so much Sindhu. By the way I see no new blogs from you? Am I missing something?
Thank you for including me in this post, Mridula! I still have to blog about TBEX. It was a pleasure meeting you 🙂
It was a pleasure meeting you too! Good luck with your travels!
The picture ‘Scecene from the Beach’ is simply marvelous
Thank you Easwar!
Informative piece.
Thank you sir!
Good one Mridula. It’s very important to be aware of the dress codes of places before we go there and be surprised ourselves. Thanks for sharing your insights. 🙂
Most of the countries are straight forward and almost all amazingly tolerant to tourists but being aware is certainly better!
Festival gowns are funny.Nice captures.
Thank you so much!
It was great knowing about the dress code for women in Philippines. Beautiful pictures 🙂
Thank you Purba, another place where you can dress as you please!
Congrats again, wish you achieve more and present more and more beautiful posts like this.
Thank you so much!
🙂 Yes they do and which is where I see a lot of fashion writers from there 🙂
And Miss Universes too! 😀
Nice and informative article !
Lovely beach shots!
After quieting your job as a professor , you are being a full time traveler and I think you are enjoying more than that job . Congrats on having spoken on a prestigious platform in Phillipines . This post is based on “Dress Code for Women in Philippines” so I cant say anything , but reading comments of your women reader , what they actually think. Hehe
Thank you for stopping by Yogi!
Great post! From what I noticed in my trip to Philippines, girls wear short dresses in Manila and Boracay. However in Cebu and even smaller islands, the local girls dress up modestly.
http://www.docdivatraveller.com/
Thank you for sharing your observations!
Nice post! I will add that I found most Filipinos cover up a bit more than just a bikini when going to the beach/ocean. They all seemed to wear at least shorts, and often a UV swim shirt with longer sleeves as well. I felt a bit uncomfortable in my bikini, and wish I had had shorts!
Eva thank you for your insight. Yes it is absolutely normal to wear a wrap over bikini be it shorts or a dress and take it off when going in the sea! As I said dress code interpretations are subject to where we live and I didn’t even notice this difference till you pointed out. Thank you so much.
Filipino’s will commonly wear shirt and shorts while swimming, both men and women, even with a bathing suit underneath. They wear more clothing while swimming, than when not swimming. I call it “Catholic Guilt”. I’ve been married to a Filipina for 31 yrs, traveled to the P.I. dozens of times.