Tetta Tête
Former Filipina top model Tetta Agustin- Baverey recounts her ups and downs as she strove to make a place for herself in the international fashion scene, writes
tanding five feet seven inches with an enviable 21-inch waistline, Tetta Agustin-Baverey was deemed too petite for Rome’s modelling standards. Told by Emilio Pucci to try and find fortune in Paris, the dusky Filipina beauty flew out as soon as she could, tumbling headway into a world that would change her life forever. “Failure was not an option,” says Tetta of her rocky start. “The prospect of having to come back to the Philippines empty-handed was embarrassing.” Rebel with a Cause Born into a conservative family of humble background, Tetta and her nine siblings were urged to prioritise their schooling. Her parents insisted that everyone study to become either doctors or lawyers, but Tetta knew that such a career was not for her. Though enrolled in a business course at the University of the East, academics became the least of her concerns. Instead, she busied herself with extracurricular activities such as her work with the student council, choir, and cultural club.
Fresh out of university, she applied to be a flight stewardess with Air Manila. It was not long after that Tetta realised she was not cut out for the service industry.
Keen on becoming a model, she called up designer Dante Ramirez and partnered with him for a fashion show called Paparazzi, which she produced and walked in. She later found work with both Pierre Cardin and Renato Balestra, with the latter asking her to model for his show at the Hyatt Regency. Balestra later extended an invitation to Italy, a chance that Tetta was very much willing to take.
“And off I went with a suitcase full of lies and excuses, the allowances of my siblings plus what savings I had the only money filling my pockets,” she recalls. “I wasn’t open to going into detail on what I was about to get into with family—my aunts, especially—who felt that modelling was akin to selling one’s body.” Top of Her Game In Rome, Tetta was met by disappointment. Her petite frame did not fit into Balestra’s pieces, which were tailored to fit the statuesque Italian models. Acting on Pucci’s suggestion, she flew to Paris and went to the Catherine Harley Modelling Agency, the only one of its kind at the time. She attended castings with Madame Grès and Nina Ricci, but they also said she was too small. “The rejection stung, but it was more because I couldn’t book a job than me being too petite,” Tetta recalls. “I came to Europe to model, and I refused to work if it wasn’t going to be a job that I liked.”
Fortune came in the form of M Hubert de Givenchy. As soon as the designer laid eyes on Tetta, he asked her to sign a contract on the spot, bumping off a Vietnamese model to accommodate Tetta. This move cemented her place as one of Givenchy’s house models and her debut on the international stage.
Life became one big adventure for the feisty Filipina. She found herself on guest lists for film festivals, yacht parties, extravagant banquets, and even private audiences with notable figures in society. She was frequently thrust under the spotlight, walking for and developing friendships with prominent women such as horticulturist and art patron Bunny Mellon, socialite and philanthropist Barbara Hutton, Wallis, Duchess of Windsor, and then First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy. Together with the top models of her time, Tetta commandeered Paris’ runways.
It was later on in her career—when she was working with Yves St Laurent—that she found herself growing weary of the modelling world. “At that point in my life, I was looking to try