Types:
The backpacker:
This one's easy, so we'll start with her.
Usually this girl has pretty enviable style, if one could call the studied "undone" look a style per se. Long, lean, tan, with natural hair, very little or no makeup, and a disheveled "long term traveler" look, made up of quick dry nylon pants, well worn no color camis and an armful of local color bracelets-- this is the look. Finished with Merrel shoes and a giant backpack, sprinkle with a determined, slightly self righteous facial expression and there you have it.
The lady of leisure:
This lady is usually 40 or older, and is either on a long term vacation of some kind of following her spouse, usually the latter. She's casually put together, the look some call "stealth wealth"--she's wearing basics, but each of those pieces cost 12,000P. The makeup look is "barely there", usually a coral lip or a light wash of slightly sparkly eyeshadow, but mostly not much at all. What sets this woman apart from school teachers or missionaries who dress in a similar fashion is her "serious jewelry"- this woman usually has some genuine David Yurman or Hermes Fine Jewelry, and not trendy things like Tiffany or Chanel. Her wedding ring, engagement ring, a heavy duty necklace, and a watch that would support a village for a year are the staples, sometimes you see some expensive religious pieces as well- prayer beads, layers and layers of lucky red coral beaded bracelets, that kind of thing.
The career gal:
This is me (although I don't dress like this, so I don't fit this mold, but this is how most women who come over here dress).
Department store linen suits, khakis, neat button downs, low heeled pumps- conservative secretary wear. Sometimes you see a slightly chicer look: all black separates with a flash of color, but mostly these women are wearing protective camouflage and don't want to stand out. It's really a shame, because these ladies have a chance to shake it up and set the tone for female style here, but usually they find themselves wearing the same old Express suits and pumps they wore to church at age 18, out of a combination of resignation and fear.
The missionary:
Not that I really need to spell this one out, but they look like Nikki from Big Love. (In the middle). This look can be surprisingly chic, as most missionaries are in great shape- no drugs or alcohol and no late nights will do that for you-- so their clothes fit very well, and in a sort of post Marc Jacobs anti fashion way, they look good. They're authentic, I'll say that for them.
The anthropologist/ language teacher/ artist/ free student:
That's me. I've only seen one other person (in almost THREE years) that was white and looked anywhere close to my style.
Let me describe her (she looked a hell of a lot better than me, but she has a similar artsy look):
She was tall and about a size 8-10 (not super thin, but on the slender side), with a natural white blond Jean Seberg pixie (reason enough to hate her already). She was wearing a black sheath dress with an asymmetrical panel on the front that had an abstract floral print in acid green and acid yellow on it. I think the only misstep was slightly clunky shoes, but with that showstopper dress, who's counting?
It wasn't quite as dramatic as these Dries Van Noten images, but it was in the same league. She owned the room. Update: I have located a picture of this lady that I took and will now post it. If you are this lady and would like me to take it down, just contact me and I'll gladly do so. But it's pretty good press, if I do say so myself!
The other version of this is older women who don't really fit any mold- they're here for unknown reason, and they look like a million bucks, usually wearing something along these lines:
These women, if I had to guess, would be Foreign Service employees or the like on their day off. They've been here for a long time and have clocked all the best places and know where to shop and what will flatter them.
Jet setting tourist:
These are the Europeans who are here on holiday (they don't really count as ex pats but they usually run in the same circles, so for all intents and purposes they are ex pats). They're usually very well put together, and they make one feel like a bag of laundry. One such young lady I saw was wearing a perfectly fitted 1950's style day dress in a bright turquoise floral print, perfectly accessorized with an artsy necklace of the type that combines pearls and chains.
This picture captures the mood and feel of the European lady on the bounce (there's another look as well, I've only seen it twice, but I'll include it after this).
The celebrity:
I've only seen two people (well, two white people, I've seen dozens of Koreans dressed like this) who fit this description, and one was in the most expensive mall in Manila, the Rockwell. She was 6 feet tall and wearing platform boots, so thin you could count her ribs through her tee shirt, she had hair like Slash from Guns and Roses, and she was wearing a hat indoors, in the middle of summer. And I think it was a floppy felt 1970's hat, but I can't be sure because I was too busy picking my jaw up from the ground from whence it had fallen.
This woman, to quote myself, was the type that, when she walked, she left a wake.
She was actually more dramatic than this illustration given her cloud of hair and Eurasian features, but you get the general idea. I'm pretty sure this person was a performer of some kind, there's no way someone like that is teaching history at Manila British School.
And that's it, basically. Sadly, there's only about 3 women for every 1 million Filipinos (no lie, there's 8 mil in Manila alone, and I've seen 2 other white women in my office building and about 5 on the streets, 4 of whom were clearly tourists)
So for those of you reading, take the challenge and step it up! Wear something different than your usual khakis and tee and Merrell walking shoes! Mix it up!
