Make your wish

Alexis Yap
Lex in the City

IT WAS really quite a July for me this year but there was one very bright silver lining in the end- the annual Make Your Own Havaianas!

This year, they’re back at the Ayala Activity Center where they have transformed the venue into a very festive Latin-inspired environment complete with upbeat music, dynamic and colorful lighting, and delicious food!

I came early this year as I couldn’t contain my excitement and also to catch Leanne Florendo, the managing director of AL Amizade, the exclusive sub-distributor of Havaianas in Central and Eastern Visayas, while she wasn’t so busy yet. I was curious to know if she gets a pair of slippers for herself every year, and she said she usually picks a pair at the end of the event, but this year she had to get one already. She expressed, “There are so much limited stuff this year including a very, very limited Vito Selma ‘Heart-Ceb’ pin.” She picked the commemorative pair with the green strap to make the red-colored, Heart-Ceb pin pop out.

What I personally like about the MYOH experience is to really get the chance to express yourself through putting together a style that reflects your personality. This year, included in each purchase are two Bonfim Wish Ribbons, a Brazilian tradition for good luck. You wear it around your wrist, make three knots, and make three wishes. When the Bonfim falls off, your wishes come true.

Not everyone may be a believer of this tradition but in the MYOH events, we can make our design wishes come true. And a lot were up for that because even when it was early, the lines were already so long. While air-kissing friends who also came to the event, I also took the time out to spot a few Havaianas fans and asked them what they loved about their Havaianas. Here are their photos and what they had to say:

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