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MANILA, Philippines—You love music and fashion, there’s no doubt about it. Realizing this, Hinge Inquirer Publications has released a new glossy for college students that puts together these two passions. The first issue is packed with great reads and colorful visuals—from fashion tips and shopping guides to interviews with hardcourt heartthrobs, the band Taken by Cars and cover girl Kim Chiu.

In this Q and A, Stef Cabal, YOU’s editor in chief, talks about their new magazine, the inspiration behind it and the awesome things they have in store for their readers.

What can you tell us about your new magazine?

Self-expression is done in many ways, most prominently in two things: music and fashion. This is how young people express themselves, so this idea formed the foundation of YOU. We wanted to offer a unique voice, style and perspective to legions of intelligent and hip young women through the language that they know… music and fashion.

What’s the concept behind it?

It’s all about expressing oneself! It’s all about you (our readers) and not disregarding their identity. Most of our fashion and music features are accessible, the readers can relate to it, they can pick something up from it (from a lot of tips and how-to’s, essays, D.I.Y.s, young achiever profiles, music idol features, to mention a few) but the features are also unexpectedly entertaining. Yeah, we put a lot of fun into it, too.

We are not merely documenting the world around us, but YOU is a reflection of the vibrant youth lifestyle and culture. Go to the streets and to the places they hangout and observe how these kids live, what they listen to and wear. Their lives reflect on what is hip and cool. The youth are very inclined in the new media and are very in-the-know. You’ll be surprised how consumer savvy and creative they can be, so we write about these things that are important to our readers. These kids also have a voice….they have blogs. It is apparent that they have a cause and want to be heard, and so we highlight these in the magazine.

Who were behind the colorful first issue?

They were our layout artist Ninya Muallam, from Golf Digest Philippines, and Luis Carlo San Juan, from Asian Dragon magazine and Metro Active. It was very tiring but a lot of fun. We saw it through. For our next issue we are now getting reinforcements with a lot of student contributors, because we want our market to be involved with YOU. Contributors kept us alive like Palanca awardee Lourd de Veyra of Radio Active Sago Project, model and youth icon Vicky Herrera who is cooking up something exciting for the next issue. Veteran writers like Walter Ang, Aldus Santos, Nick Azarcon are contributing. Surprisingly, a lot of people had helped us out, and we are very thankful for that.

Who is your target market?

The Rockin’ youth. Intelligent, hip, free-spirited young women, even guys as well (Shadow market are tweens and young professionals).

What are five words that would describe YOU?

One reader said it in three… ” It’s effin’ cool!”

What makes it different from the other magazines available in the market?

Well, the cover says it all. We are out-of-the-box, dynamic and youthful. Mostly, inspired by our diverse culture as well as Asian influences such as Japan and Korea, but still very Filipino. We like colorful visuals like, vectors, graphics and anime in our pages. We’d like to think that it is “pretty” to read, pass on and keep on you shelf. And lastly, we will be working more with 2BU, two mediums, magazine and newspaper working side by side.

Why should readers pick YOU up?

…Because we put passion in every page and we carry our message on our sleeves.

What else do you have in store for them in the future?

A lot more! As we try to expand with more pages, it means more features on talented young designers, local musicians, and artists. Our magazine launch is also something to look forward to. We wanted more interaction with our readers; so we are slowly building it through the Internet. For now we have a multiply site, youmagazine.multiply.com and facebook. And we were caught by surprise when we received tons of letters and overwhelming responses just from the first issue. We are a work in progress, but we would like to change the rules of the game, and keep on feeding young minds with things that matter to them.

Get your copy of YOU at your favorite bookstores and magazine stands nationwide.