The beginning of her storied career coincided with the end of World War II, which left Manila in great ruin. But National Artist Salvacion Lim Higgins, more fondly known as “Slim,” refused to be defined by the dark times that preceded her path. She moved forward with fashion, relentlessly dressing the Filipina woman in exquisite gowns that bore the same fire, elegance and boldness of her enduring creative spirit.
To this day, her work remains a testament to her ever-evolving creations; her dresses and gowns both timeless — and ahead of her time.
In homage to national artist Slim’s contribution to Philippine fashion, the National Commission for Culture and Arts and the Metropolitan Theater recently unveiled its maiden exhibit titled “Imagining/Imaging.” It offers a leisurely walk through the designer’s career from the late 1940s to 1990.
“I felt that this would be a good time to show young designers the range of her inspirations on this theme,” shared Slim’s son, artist Mark Lewis Higgins, who also curated the show.
“Imagining/Imaging” couldn’t be a more fitting title to describe Slim, the visionary. “In this installation, one can see how she continued to reimagine the parameters of what a Filipino identity would mean through the decades of her career,” Higgins added.
The french connection
“Manila was so devastated by (WWII) destruction that it had to be rebuilt, reimagined, and even refashioned,” Higgins shared, reiterating the state of the country’s capital post-war, when her mother set up shop. “She was part of an unconscious collective that imagined a new country and what that image would represent. Her creations proposed what the modern Filipina woman of the 20th century would be and how she would look — she was no longer the product of a 19th century past.”
It happened in the year 1947, a time when the west was experiencing a “Golden Age of Haute Couture,” Higgins pointed out. It was “a golden age for couture in Manila as well.”
Slim was inspired by the French designers, particularly Christian Dior, whose 1947 “New Look” (characterized by round shoulders, a cinched waist, padded hips, and a full skirt) took the fashion world by storm, for it signaled a return to exuberance, following years of restrictive attires and limited garments as a result of the war.
Taking cues from the French couturiers, Slim adapted key elements to the fundamentals that made a terno, transforming the national dress “into some of the boldest and most avant-garde shapes and silhouettes in its history,” said Higgins.
Newly restored classics
“These were wearable dresses — she was never literal or heavy-handed, so they never looked like ‘costumes,’” mused Higgins, viewing his mother’s work on display at “Imagining/Imaging.”
The collection of newly restored dresses were on display against a mural that depicted an outdoor park scene in Manila, created by Tats Rejante-Manahan, who also conceived the installation to communicate the idea of the Filipino identity as a hybrid, influenced by native themes and western haute couture sensibilities.
“My mother was a modernist, so she was always looking at how ideas could be viewed and expressed in a new way,” Higgins said, explaining how Slim’s works “really moved with the times.”
The New Look in the late ’40s that inspired much of Slim’s earlier works was characterized by “extremely sculpted forms” and “elaborate, architectural shapes.” In the mid-1960s to the ’70s, the dresses “began to look more playful” and shapes became soft and fluid. Slim used “materials that would float” such as light crepes and mousselines, and fashioned them with barely any inner linings and only minimal fastenings.
The term “Filipiniana” was coined in the 1980s, referring to the types of dresses she made. Yet Slim would continue to design beyond the terno. Out came her versions of the traje de mestiza, dresses with native and tribal details, Muslim-inspired gowns, and designs that borrow elements from the barong.
Beads and sequins took over indigenous embellishments. The traditional jusi was given a modern touch with cut-work embroidery and updated silhouettes. She was fearless in her use of printed fabric that mirrored ethnic weaves and motifs.
In hindsight, Higgins says, “I think that she and a few of her peers set the standard of what a couture dress designed and created in the Philippines would and should look like. Her dresses would make quite a statement at times, but she always told me that she dressed her clients according to their personalities — so they were never overwhelmed, but rather enhanced by what they were wearing.”
He concludes: “She would constantly imagine and reimagine what the modern Filipina woman was all about, and then construct a manifestation of what she proposed that would be.”
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“Imagining/Imaging” runs until Jan. 8, 2023 at the Metropolitan Theater Gallery, Antonio Villegas Street (facing Arroceros Forest Park) Ermita, Manila. Admission is free and opening hours are Saturday to Thursday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.