Haha. I was thinking a while ago about what I was wearing. A duster/daster... (well, I'll write it the way I say it!). Yes, the baclaran/divisoria hit that makes almost all middle class matrons feel like it is their best friend. My sister Treena always says that she will never be caught dead wearing one, and she resorts to her nighties worn even during the day... (ha, same thing, only hers is silk!:P). But is it that makes me and other moms feel they are paralyzed once they step out of the house wearing the deadly D anyway? And why do I still continue to wear such horrendous, figure unflattering tents? Here's my not so intelligent analysis of it...
Dasters somehow give a real portrait of the Filipino matron. Losyang, ika nga. Yes, I am guilty of that. Like my mother, when I get home in my skinny jeans and my pale attempt to look hot in a sexy top, the first thing that comes to my mind is COMFORT. I am one of those who are obsessive compulsive about their beds, I never lie on mine unless I wear something fresh and clean. And because I am tired from the outside world trying to make porma, I choose to pull out something that is loose, clean and comfortable. With one piece, I am decent and covered up to my calves, unlike shorts and shirt, I have to wear a bra, put on my shorts that don't even close when I'm full (which is all the time)!! So I guess the daster is something we choose to turn to....
Yes, a Filipino matron has many facets. One of them portrayed in many movies, a yelling wife to an inebriate and infidel husband, one that uses rollers for their hair but never takes them off and a newspaper for whacking flies and disobedient children. Something of a caricature... ridiculously funny but creepily true... And the daster is a reminder of some of us about our own personal household dramas that we don't dare share with anybody. Something to be kept in the baul of our memories, unearthed only in our nightmares (or when a gun is already pointing at our heads)
Another point to observe is that everyone, even the Catholic Church who is all about simplicity and meekness reminds us wives to look beautiful and presentable for our spouses, and so where does the daster fit in the picture? The daster that has no glamor, is billowy and totally tacky with the lapu lapu prints and the gumamelas and the tie-dyes that even killed Woodstock (or Victor Wood)? Come to think of it, it does take away whatever attempts we have in trying to look like a Heidi Klum or an Angelina Jolie.... and maybe that's the cause of husbands' cheating, I don't know.... and in some situations, maybe it's the daster's fault that husbands tend to look the other way at some sexy and bodacious babe... maybe....
But then you can't blame the daster, you know. For all its lack of visual presentation and possible causes of marital woes, it can also compensate for a happy, contented wife, and a flexible mother, braving the domestic challenges such as cooking, playing with kids, cleaning, etc. For me, the gumamelas and the tie-dyes also remind me to relax not just my body but also my mind, to believe that in a very small part of this world, I can just be myself, no false appearances, no porma, no nothing, and concentrate on other things... When I'm in one, no, I may not step out of the house, but come to think of it, heck, maybe I should, because no matter how beautifully made up and polished I want to look in front of people, I am also real, imperfect but happy and contented in a comfortable kind of way. I mean, after all, I AM a Filipino matron... (but I'll save the rollers for special occasions...)
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