Tessa Alindogan Takes Style Cues from Design and Life

There is no such thing as art divorced from life; Tessa Alindogan’s wardrobe could tell you that much.

Tessa Alindogan credits her appreciation for fashion to being a keen observer of design and detail. Traveling with her family in her youth, she would take in the aesthetics of museums, from the artwork to what people were wearing. Inspired by beautiful spaces they visited, she would then rearrange the furniture at home, experimenting with composition. As an interior designer for over 30 years, the co-founder of the firm Adesign states that design and architecture have influenced her life in many ways. “It is the way things are constructed and put together that I am most curious about,” she says. “These aspects allow me to break down, in my mind, how things are created and made, giving me tangible inspiration that helps me choose my clothes and influence the way I dress.”

With a penchant for menswear-inspired silhouettes and bespoke suiting, Alindogan adds stylish gestures like cravats, belts, pocket squares, and lapel pins. Her go-to words are “tailored, streamlined, and structured.” The contrast between her parents’ styles—her father leaned traditional in Brooks Brothers and Ralph Lauren, while her mother was always stylishly put together with matching bags and shoes—provided the foundation for which Alindogan built her own vocabulary of taste: “Having both of them in my life gave me a good sense of what being stylish and well-dressed is about.” She believes in evolving, too, refining your look as the years go by, still keeping the same DNA of dressing that encompasses your identity.

Photographed by Joseph Pascual and styled by Carlos Mangubat for the November 2024 Issue of Vogue Philippines
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Photographed by Joseph Pascual and styled by Carlos Mangubat for the November 2024 Issue of Vogue Philippines
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Photographed by Joseph Pascual for the November 2024 Issue of Vogue Philippines
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Photographed by Joseph Pascual and styled by Carlos Mangubat for the November 2024 Issue of Vogue Philippines
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Tessa wears looks from Thom Browne available at Univers, and Ivarluski Aseron.

Photographs by Joseph Pascual. Makeup: Angeline dela Cruz. Hair: Miggy Carbonilla. Production Design: Arj Madz. Producer: Bianca Zaragoza. Associate Fashion Editor: Carlos Mangubat. Associate Fashion Features Editor: Ticia Almazan. Shot on location at Shutterspace Studios.