#OOTD: A Closer Look at UP Apparel

by: Laarni Ann Ledesma

 

“Matatapang. Matatalino. Walang takot kahit kanino.”

 

Students from the University of the Philippines (UP) are known to excel in academics. They are also popular for being liberal and outspoken. Not having any uniforms encourages UP students to express their individuality. With the freedom to wear anything their heart desires and the urge to show school pride, UP students are lured to buy UP merchandise.

 

UP merchandise come in many forms such as shirts, jackets, and hoodies. They can be bought through stores like Maroons and Diliman Republic and with the advancement of technology, they can now be ordered online and can be acquired via meet-ups.

 

Aside from showing school spirit, UP merchandise manifest art in a variety of ways. One example is the consideration of the chromatic code of the UP culture. As defined by Alice Guillermo, chromatic code “includes the range of hues used in a culture, the dominant hues, the preferred or recurrent color combinations” (256). This is evidenced by the prevalence of the colors maroon, forest green, and white in these merchandise. Even UP students are called by the university’s primary color – UP Maroons.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another prominent example is the use of iconic symbols like Oble (a UP jargon for the Oblation), a sculpture by Guillermo Tolentino that is found inside the campus. It depicts a completely naked man with arms outstretched and looking upward. According to Bobbie Santos-Viola, Oble has become a symbol of “love of freedom, search for truth, and love of country”. It is an image commonly found in UP merchandise. Other icons that have highly nuanced meanings are the sunflowers and sablay (UP graduation sash). Both sunflowers and sablay equate to success for most UP students as the two icons are associated with graduation.

 

In addition to the use of dominant hues and icons, texts on some merchandise seem to use the technique of trans-coding. As mentioned by Marita Sturken and Lisa Cartwright, “trans-coding is borrowing derogatory terms and reusing them in empowering ways” (63). A perfect example of this is the term sablay. In tagalog, sablay is an adjective which means failure. But for UP students, sumablay is not to fail but to succeed because the sablay is the sash used during UP commencement exercises. In the line “Sasablay rin ako balang araw”, the term is used to signify the eagerness of UP students to achieve their goals.

 

These UP merchandise show how creative and witty UP students are. They prove that art really does exist in everyday life. Most of all, they attest to the fact that UP students do not lag behind others not only in academics but also in fashion.

 

References:

Guillermo, Alice. “Reading the Image” reprinted in Humanities: Art and Society Handbook. Quezon City: CHED. 1998. Print.

Santos-Viola, Bobbie. The Oblation Unveiled in 1935. Bahay Nakpil-Bautista. 24 May 2010. Web. 23 Feb. 2014. < http://bahaynakpil.org/the-oblation-unveiled-in-1935/>

Sturken, Marita and Lisa Cartwright. Practices of Looking: An Introduction to Visual Culture. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2001. Print.