#maxinemedina

Maxine Medina: More than the Terno

“Maria Mika Maxine Medina, Philippines!”

Confident and laced with strong words of conviction, Maxine Medina stunned the hometown crowd with her performance during the pageant preliminaries.

She is no longer just a woman with the elegance of a beauty queen. She now has the tenacity of a beast too — dominating, ruthless and savage with a will to become more than what she is right now. With each sweet smile and captivating catwalk, she is out to prove all her doubters wrong.

And yet she still receives an endless stream of online bashers, especially after her comments about the terno — when she said that former First Lady Imelda Marcos invented this fashion style.

Granted, Maxine should have been careful with her facts and words. In the book Fashionable Filipinas: An Evolution of the Philippine National Dress in Photographs, 1860-1960, historical research indicates that the terno was a collective effort, no one person invented it.

Maxine’s error was likely an honest mistake, and not an attempt at historical revisionism. She sincerely apologized for this as she clarified that Imelda did not invent the terno but made it popular. Imelda favored the elaborated butterfly sleeves and single dress over anything else in her wardrobe — making public appearances as an icon of luxurious fashion and lavish lifestyle at the peak of the Marcos presidency. From these butterfly sleeves, she became known as the Iron Butterfly, referring to her increasingly growing role back then in governance.

But the terno is more than Imelda. It also forms part of the fabric of our historical heritage. Some may say it’s just a simple dress; it’s not. It is a symbol of Filipino women and the centuries of pain they endured from colonizers and their struggle to find their place in society.

Maxine is cut from the same cloth as notable Filipinas in our history who had to overcome odds and adversities in order to succeed. And she’s doing it with style! As fellow Filipinos, we shouldn’t bring her down.

During the preliminaries, Maxine owned the stage. She created an impenetrable bubble filled with thoughts of winning. Just her, relishing the moment, exuding bliss, and oozing with such beauty that dances and twirls with her beastly competitive nature.

She got this.

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