Transpacific Femininities: The Making of the Modern Filipina Available to Purchase

In 2006, an issue of Wedding Essentials, a Philippines-based bridal magazine, featured a center spread of four Filipinas, all dressed in distinct wedding attire. The story, titled “The Four Faces of Maria Clara,” attempts to illustrate the different facets of Filipina beauty and femininity. The article proceeds to describe these four faces as mestiza, morena, chinita, and “dusky.” In her analysis of this magazine cover and the corresponding story, Denise Cruz asserts that it “locates the four women within a site shaped by intimate connections among continents—the eddies and flows of multiple migrations, trade relations and imperial conquests. . . . The layout nevertheless reproduces a racial hierarchy shaped by the Philippines' contact with Spain, China, the United States, and Japan” (p. 4). Cruz points out that this is not a simple magazine cover meant to show the diversity of modern Filipinas. It is a contemporary...