RESEARCH DATA:

The Bugkalot women’s traditional attire is called the agemet, which consists of a skirt and a blouse (The Bugkalot Tribe of the Philippines: History, Culture & Art, Language, Customs, and Tradition [Philippine Indigenous People | Ethnic Group], n.d.). Their wrap-around skirt is locally known as the agde and was traditionally made from bark cloth, secured at the waist with a rattan or wire belt called the kaget (The Bugkalot Tribe of the Philippines: History, Culture & Art, Language, Customs, and Tradition, n.d.). While the Bugkalot do not traditionally weave, acquiring textiles instead through trade, they skillfully create the vibrant and detailed embellishments on their garments.
This skirt from the collection is a tubular agde featuring intricate floral embroidery. It is heavily embellished with red pompoms, plastic sequins, and small coiled brass wires that dangle with tiny teardrop-shaped mother-of-pearl shell cutouts. At the top of one of the floral embroideries is a design that includes the Roman letters “E-N-d-E-T.” Based on its appearance, the “E-N-d-E-T” was likely embroidered using the same colors as those used in the floral designs on the skirt. The swirling design that underlines the letters could be part of the word's spelling, in which case it might be read as “LENdET.”