The year she won, Vida also graduated from the University of the Philippines with a degree in broadcast communications.
"We used to join mass actions at UP," Vida fondly remembers her action-packed First Quarter Storm years. "Yes, Nelia Sancho, 1970 Queen of the Pacific, was there, too. And even after college, she was well into it."
After college, Nelia went underground and you may say that she made a quarter turn to the Left.
Others like Vida chose to make the most of whatever life had to offer. A year after she handed over the Bb. Pilipinas crown to her successor, she married her boyfriend and business partner Carlito Legaspi, four years her senior.
"Carlito was a dealer of Singer sewing machines," says Vida. "We had a mannequin, which I dressed up with the clothes I designed, to show what the machine does, what kind of stitch it does, etc. The clothes were selling faster than the machines. So I said I might as well formalize my training, really learn how to cut and sew. I took up fashion designing at Slim’s and then at Madonna’s. I also went to New York to observe at the Fashion Institute of Technology."
Vida was also grateful for the informal training she got from her mother who made her daughters’ clothes. "Whenever she’d make one for me, I was so excited I would fit it even if it was not yet finished."
The young Vida learned a little bit of the trade on her mother’s lap. She points out, "Being the second girl – my ate is nine years older – I was used to getting hand-me-down clothes which I would alter on the sewing machine at home."
At 21, she was ready to test the business waters. With a capital of P10,000, she put up her Vida International Fashion, Inc.
At 22, she took the marital plunge. "I’d cry when I think about it," she looks back. "My youth was suddenly gone – I didn’t even know where it went. Back then, when a girl said yes to a boy and went ‘steady’ with him, the girl couldn’t sleep because she felt she gave so much of herself already. Being a beauty queen, I had a lot of suitors – I didn’t know whether they really loved me or not. I got a lot of propositions from rich suitors but I said no, I was going to work my way through. Besides, I was a loyalist and I never entertained suitors other than my boyfriend who eventually became my husband."
After a short stint on TV, Vida faced the seamy realities of business. "I was only 21 and already, I had to deal with the rich people of Makati," she recalls with a shudder. "We put up our first store inside Rustan’s at the then Makati Commercial Center, now Ayala Center. Then we got a space at the back of Rustan’s, where Kimpura was. We not only changed our location, we also changed our name, which was rather long and cold. According to the head of Rustan’s secuity, it would improve the ringing of our cash register. And so it became Vida Doria and true enough, business picked up. We were the first few to go into RTW (ready-to-wear) in 1971-’72."
Theirs is a business marriage made in heaven. Carlito takes care of the business side while Vida takes care of the creative side. "Of course, it’s inevitable that we sometimes fight," Vida explains, "but we always remind each other that we belong to the same team, we wear the same color. The reason we argue is I’m not as business-minded as my husband. When I design, I don’t look at the color of money, how much I’d earn from my clothes. I only think of how good it would look on my client. I think of clothes that would also fit my clients’ budget. Our clothes are very reasonably priced – our tops go from P695 to no more than P1,495. If we get our fabric at a cheaper price, we pass on our savings to customers by bringing down our prices. Sometimes, I even encourage them to do alterations on their clothes instead of buying new ones."
As the business expanded, so did Vida’s waistline. When she won, she was a wisp of a girl with a to-die-for 23-inch waistline. "That was the medium size in my shop back then," she notes. "As I got bigger, my medium size also got bigger until I finally accepted the fact that I was no longer a medium. Once, we even created a medium-large (ML) in the store because I didn’t want to accept the fact that I was already a large. My customers were so happy because it gave them the feeling that they were not large, medium-large lang. We still carry that size. Today, our sizes include XS, S, M, ML, L, XL, XXL, XXXL and we’re developing XXXXL."
Now, that’s certainly big news for big women!
"Nobody wants to look old, so I said I’d design for an ideal girl and then I’d make the same style for bigger and older women," she intimates. "Our clothes clicked!"
A walking advertisement of her own clothes, she describes what she’s wearing during the STAR interview: "It’s a very classic design which can be worn by both young and older women – I just have to choose the right color and fabric for them. And of course, the style – the semi-bias style can make big women look small."
Vida’s clothes are very much like herself: Romantic, natural. She became famous for her full, floral skirts that evoked romance.
"My clothes are something I can relate to," she says. "They’re as real as my personality, I try not to be somebody else. They’re timeless and the colors and fabrics are all natural. You can wear them over and over again, and end up giving them away only because you’re tired of them. But if there’s a trend I like, I go for it, like the peasant look which is back. I keep updating myself on what’s current in fashion so customers can expect something new at our stores at least once a week."
She can feel the chemistry in the air when she has a bestseller in her hands. "When I get excited about a style, certain prints and colors, it sells very, very well," she says. "I look at all the upcoming colors and I close my eyes. Whatever I remember is what we manufacture."
Vida hopes to hit it big with young people, too. "Before, when I was a medium, my clients were my age and as I became younger once and younger once, my clients were getting older and older, too. I said it’s not good for the business, we have to make people feel we also cater to the young. So now, we’re putting in young blood."
Enter second son Carlo Legaspi, 25, a communications research graduate of UP, who’s finally relented after three years of gentle arm-twisting from his mom to join the family business. He’s now in charge of operations and marketing. He also takes care of Vida Doria’s men’s line Inaro (from the Pangasinense word enaro which means loved one). Beautifully tailored to fit one’s cosmopolitan lifestyle, the Inaro men’s line has outlets in all Vida Doria stores – Glorietta 1, SM Megamall and SM City North Edsa – and at Sta. Lucia East Department Store.
What about the other Legaspi children? The eldest Calen Martin is a metallurgical engineer whose passion lies not in fashion but in science. Third son Conrad is a sophomore student at Ateneo where he’s taking up management. The youngest and only girl, Christianne Vida, 16, is graduating from Poveda. Like her mom, Kitty is fond of clothes. Already, she’s grooming herself to contribute her bit to her parents’ business. Soon, she’ll be on top of a young line that Vida Doria is adding.
"My children were my top priority when they were growing up," says Vida. "I gave 60 percent of myself to them and 40 percent to the family business. Looking at them now, I’m happy I chose my priorities right. But now that they’re all grown, I’m getting my second wind and relaunching myself. Yes, like Diane von Furstenberg. Or sort of reinventing myself like Madonna."
The Vida Doria shops are undergoing a face-lift. New people have been hired to take care of the window displays. Vida is also going full blast into RTW bridal gowns, priced from P1,995 to P7,000.
"Through the years, through the many natural calamities and economic disasters, Vida Doria has been doing well," says Vida with a hint of pride. "I’m really excited to tell young women, who want to succeed in business despite the hard times, my own humble beginnings when I was just as young. How it all started with P10,000 and one sewing machine which I won in the Bb. Pilipinas contest and which we keep in our house to this day."
Certainly, it’s not makeup and other beauty tricks that keep Vida Doria-Legaspi looking as lovely as the day she was proclaimed Bb. Pilipinas in 1971. "I enjoy what I’m doing," she gushes. "I’m savoring life – every single minute of it."
She’s living la Vida loca.