Baby Araneta Forés leaves a legacy of style in her passing

She claimed a look and owned it throughout her life. Dragonfly dark shades, a high chignon tied tightly, simple classic clothes—ala Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany’s—a look that fit her so snugly like second skin that even Audrey could not protest. For decades, Manila society saw Baby Araneta Forés as an icon of style, with an individuality and a magnetic personality that rendered the spotlight powerless to take its focus away from her. An heiress and a jet setter, a fashion plate and the life of the party, she awakened the aspiration for a life of privilege, an upbringing immersed in taste, elegance and all the finest things. But on March 25, 2023, that life ended—though not in vain.

Her father was the industrialist J Amado Araneta who built the family empire bearing their name in Quezon City. Baby is the youngest of three children, with Judy A Roxas and Jorge as her siblings. Today, what the father built is being run by the only son as the head of the Araneta Group of Companies, which develops and manages their booming commercial enclave north of the metropolis.

This is Baby’s family, the cradle of her upbringing. She did not venture too far away, setting up home when she married the eminent surgeon, Dr Raul Forés, within the family compound in Cubao called Bahay na Puti. Here she bore and raised five children: Joe, Margarita, Bledes, Oye, and Veana.

They say one’s upbringing—education, both in school and the family, and exposure, be it parochial or global—shapes one’s character and personality. Baby had the best of both, nay, all worlds. She grew up in a well-travelled, well-educated family. She even lived in New York for 12 years, expanding her circle of friends to include international celebrities. Style and sophistication could not have eluded her. Yet, in an interview for Tatler Philippines many years ago, she nixed outside influences for having anything to do with what she was being admired for. “I was born with a sense of style,” she told the interviewer John Silva. “I didn’t pick it up from anyone. I knew what was becoming to me.”

Baby also knew what she wanted and needed and always what was best for her. So, when the aughts rolled in, she deemed it time for her to slow down the social pace. “I grew up. I have grandchildren now, enjoy their company, and look forward to seeing them. I am ageing and find other things interesting,” she told Silva in the same interview.

Indeed, a wise decision. As such, she was there to see her seven grandchildren and one great-grandchild grow, basked in her eight children’s achievements such as the stature Margarita has reached as worthy of the title Chef of the Year dubbed on her by Asia’s Best, and enjoyed the company of her two siblings in her haven in Bahay na Puti. Those precious years must have put her at ease, so much so that when her time came, one could almost picture her collected and still stylish, as expected from the one and only Baby Araneta Forés.

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