Breathtaking

I first heard about Slim's a few years ago when I found out that a couple of friends were taking sewing classes there. I wondered about the name but wasn't curious enough to research. It was only late last year--when the office was all abuzz with excitement over the launch of the Slim's Retrospective at the National Museum--that I learned that it's short for Salvacion Lim Higgins, one of the Philippines' most famous designers.

I was not familiar with her work, but I got acquainted with it through this book:

I'm not a fashion person (though I often wonder what my life would be like now had I taken that Preview job years ago), but that was the first time that I ever got lost in the pages of a coffee table book about fashion. Neal Oshima's photography was glorious, the subjects even moreso. Even vintage photos of Slim's works really struck me. Beautiful gowns seemingly floating in mid-air, the masterful draping--I was mesmerized. Such detail, such construction, such imagination! The inspired, architectural things she did with the terno! Oh, this was a woman who was truly ahead of her time.

I have to somehow convince my husband to accompany me to the National Museum again, so I could see these works of art up close. If you get the chance, do head on over to Manila; the exhibit runs til March.

The Slim's Retrospective is at the Museum of the Filipino People, National Museum of the Philippines, Manila. Exhibit open daily except Monday and Tuesday, 10:00 am to 4:30pm. Entrance fees: P100 (adults), P30 (students) free admission on Sundays. For more info, call (02) 527-0278.