MANILA, Philippines - T-shirts are a staple in everyone’s wardrobes, regardless of whether your #aesthetic is starving student or working creative. While it’s great to go with the basics because of their versatility, it doesn’t hurt to add a pop of color and quirky prints to your wardrobe every once in a while.
SM Youth’s got lots of designs to choose from with this year’s Tee Festival, which is made more exciting since you can get as much as a P450 discount on regular-priced T-shirts. And if you feel like the design you want isn’t available, why not join their T-shirt design contest to get a chance to have your original design sold in all the SM stores? To enter, all you have to do is design a shirt, upload it on Instagram with the hashtag #TeeFestival.
For now, here are some of the season’s playful new designs modeled by SM Youth ambassadors LA Aguinaldo, Janna Tee, Tommy Esguerra and Richard Juan.
* * *
The SM Youth Tee Festival and all its promos run from Sept. 1 to Oct. 31. Visit facebook.com/SMYouthLifestyle or on Twitter and Instagram at @SM_Youth for more details on Tee Festival and the T-shirt design contest. Click on #TeeFestival for a visual treat of the month-long promo.
LA Aguinaldo, 22
“SM Youth is about belonging somewhere,” declares LA Aguinaldo, 2015 Asia Star Model and first SM Youth ambassador. The shoots that he gets to do for SM Youth are always fun, and he mentions that they are always great ways for him to bond, both with his co-ambassadors and the rest of the team. “I try to create an environment that the other models can feed off,” he mentions. “So sometimes the images you see on the billboards, the posters, of us having fun, they’re real. We’re really having fun. It’s the best feeling ever. You capture genuine moments, and they end up being posters or billboards.”
As someone who is constantly on the go, it is no surprise that LA’s go-to outfit consists of a black shirt, jeans, and a pair of Converse sneakers (which, according to him, suit any event or occasion). His style fits with his approach to youth, which you could say is partly the YOLO mentality. LA encourages people to live carefree and confident, and to “always live in the moment,” because “if you keep thinking about tomorrow, the moment’s just gonna slip away.”
Janna Tee, 25
Janna describes herself as a basic girl. But before you get to thinking about the other kind of basic, she’d like to clarify that she’s purely talking about her taste in clothes. Splitting her time between working for her family company and going to shoots, Janna’s go-to outfit is usually a plain white shirt and denim — whether it be skinny jeans or boyfriend jeans — simply because this ensemble is comfy.
Though she likes to think that age is just a number, she also stresses that there is also a certain level of responsibility that comes with it. Her advice? “Don’t do something you are going to regret looking back on, say, five years after, and your excuse is ‘Oh, I was so young.’ Sometimes what you do now will affect your life forever.”
Richard Juan, 23
During Richard’s free time, he likes to self-study. “It sounds really boring, but I read accounting books. I read Time magazine, The Economist.” The University of the Philippines graduate confesses that he’s always been into business and investing, so reading through those materials helps him to “be a better person in the future.” Richard got his break after modeling for school organizations like the UP Junior Marketing Association. A friend took him to an agency and some castings, which led to fashion opportunities, which then eventually transitioned to TV — he is currently a PBB housemate with co-ambassador Tommy.
Citing his dad (who, at 50 years old, does Zumba and listens to Top 40 songs) as an example, Richard agrees with the SM Youth mantra that youth is a state of mind. For him, youth is all about “being young and responsible.” This translates to Richard’s style as well. He mentions that his fans, whom he fondly calls the “Hwanderers,” know that his style is very “simple and youthful,” usually as an outfit composed of a white top, a pair of white shoes, jeans, and a cap.
Tommy Esguerra, 21
The first word you might think of after seeing Tommy (with his long locks and six-foot frame), probably isn’t “nerd” — which is, coincidentally, exactly how he describes himself. Even more surprisingly, the current Philippine Big Brother housemate and full-time model confesses that he isn’t even sure how to dress most of the time.
Tommy’s decision to pursue modeling came one summer while he was working to pay for college while at home in Los Angeles. Friends told him to try his luck in the Philippines, and he decided to go for it on a whim. Though he is currently preoccupied at the PBB House, one of his favorite pastimes would have to be playing League of Legends on his computer at home. Lately, though, he’s also been really into reevaluating his life and finding out what his goals are. “I’ve been doing some soul-searching, I guess,” he says. When asked what his idea of youth is, he replies by saying that it’s all about perspective: “Youth is all in your head. Of course you can’t help with your physical body. Sometimes, people don’t just eat right, or injuries affect their youthful experiences, but overall, it’s all in your head. If you wanna perceive life to be fun and free and beautiful, then it will be.”