Mothers who inspire their children beyond fashion
Fashion is a craft and a discipline that some of the most stylish women have utilized and passed on to their children, sometimes as a profession but often as a form of expression that reflects an individual style and character which has been nurtured from early on.
The late National Artist of the Philippines, Salvacion Lim Higgins, was known for her innovative haute couture creations worn by Manila’s most elegant women. Known as Slim, the name was a buzzword among cognoscenti who frequented her atelier that opened in 1947. In 1960, she launched Slim’s Fashion and Art School, the country’s first. She married Hubert Higgins the same year and had two children—Sandy in 1961 and Mark in 1963.
Mark, after his sister’s death in 2020, recalled how, as a child, Sandy’s entire bedroom as well as her party dresses were all in pink. She had three dresses to wear for her birthday parties and “needless to say, as she grew older, she became a bit of a fashion rebel, turning her back on the fashion world, and till the very end of her days, detested the color pink.” It was also not a cool color choice for her chosen field of advertising, where she reached the top as an accomplished executive creative director in Hong Kong in the ‘90s.
Slim actually kept her children out of the fashion spotlight while nurturing their other talents and creative potentials. Mark, for example, was encouraged to pursue his love of painting to become a celebrated international artist even if he also turned to fashion design and costume design as some of the many expressions of his boundless imagination.
After Slim’s death in 1990, however, they realized that they had to pass on their mother’s legacy. They co-directed the school to keep pace with the times and held exhibits of her creations at museums and malls. They also published a book on her work and arranged for her pieces to be part of the collections of the Victoria & Albert Museum in London and the Smithsonian in Washington. Nurturing the new breed of designers from their school, they would wear their creations at events where the siblings are considered among the well dressed.
Another style icon who wore Slim’s was Chona Kasten, favorite daughter of the eminent nationalist, Senator Claro M. Recto who spoiled her with all things she loved—clothes, jewelry, travel—but gave her the proper education and breeding to become an intelligent woman of substance. She met the dashing Johnny Ysmael whose courtship would be interrupted by her father’s sending her to study at Marymount in New York but the war would send her back to the country and the couple eventually got married and had four children. Techie, her only daughter, who wrote a book about her mother (La Divina), recalled how her parents both loved to dress up and enjoy the good life: “His passions were cars, horses and clothes and my mom’s were clothes, accessories and travel.” Techie, as well as her brother Louie, would inherit their parents’ joie de vivre and good taste. Louie became Manila’s nightlife king, opening the most exclusive clubs, while Techie became a designer, fashion consultant and style setter in her own right, wearing Ramon Valera for her first communion and all the other top designers as she grew up.
In the field of cinema, an enduring fashion icon is the legendary Gloria Romero whose career spans over 70 years, starring in over 200 films and television programs including award-winning performances from the time she got her big break in the 1950s at Sampaguita Pictures. She was a muse of Ramon Valera, the first National Artist for fashion, who designed her gown when she married Juancho Guttierez in 1960. Their daughter, Maritess Gutierrez, tried acting briefly, as influenced by both parents, but she was nevertheless encouraged to follow her passion and eventually became a chef. “The most important thing is to pursue whatever you want to do in life and don’t give up. Be patient,” her mother always said, recalling her humble beginnings in the industry when her first dialogue in a movie was “Thank you, Doctor.” “Minemorize ko yun ng tatlong gabi (LOL). Baka kasi magkamali. Biro mo naman, ka-eksena ko si Pancho Magalona, king of Philippine movies.”
Another enduring style icon in film, but from the younger generation, is Dawn Zulueta who married Anton Lagdameo, Jr.. They have a son, Jacobo, born in 2005 and Ayisha, born in 2009. Dawn has been championing Filipino designers wearing their creations at events like the recent Ternocon where she wore a beautiful balintawak by Lesley Mobo. The sense of discipline and work ethic that Dawn cultivated in her craft and that her husband developed as a businessman are inculcated in their children, both in their studies and extra-curriculars. At Jacobo’s recent win with his school’s team at the Interscholastic Association of Southeast Asian Schools (IASAS) basketball championship, they couldn’t have been prouder for his determination despite nursing a busted knee and ankle. “We love the way you responded to adversity and the attitude you bring every day in all the things you endeavor to do,” Dawn posted on IG. They were equally thrilled when Ayisha made it to the top 12 Junior Classical Division at the prestigious Youth Grand Prix 2022 ballet competition, after years of hard work. The mother and daughter have been seen at important cultural events like those of Alice Reyes Dance Philippines at the CCP and the ABT Rising Stars with Cecile Licad at Samsung.
Another film and political style star is Lucy-Torres Gomez, who together with husband, Richard Gomez, have both been fashion endorsers and supporters of Filipino designers whom they wear with elan at special occasions. Naturally, their only child, Juliana, has acquired their instinct for style but expressed with her own individuality, making her the latest cover of Vogue Philippines. She has also been raised to follow her own path, taking up fencing and winning gold for UP at the UAAP, with dreams of the Olympics—“doing her part in building a team of fencers who can represent Philippine sports on the world stage and create a culture of excellence.”