She defied social conventions and was considered years ahead of her time. Salvacion Lim Higgins was also a fashion visionary whose school shaped the careers of today's design stars.
This feature story was originally titled as The Life And Times Of Slim's, published in the December 2003 issue of Tatler Philippines.
Before the word "cool" became popular, Salvacion Lim Higgins was already a proponent of it. Besides being an innovator in couture, she defied conventions which, by today's standards, are considered chic. She got married at 40 in an era when a woman was deemed a spinster by 27. Her expatriate husband, Hubert Higgins, was seven years her junior. When the generation gap between parents and children was the norm, the couple treated their children, Sandra and Mark, like their peers. Slim (she signed her name S. Lim) was the original FV (fashion victim) who was always captivated by the novelty of garment, accessory or product and would certainly get them by hordes. Before anybody heard of Shu Uemura cosmetics, she would ask her children, who were then studying abroad, to look for the brand in some little-known boutique. Before boomers invented "downaging," Slim, who was already in her late '50s, was a Hot Mama in short skirts and tight clothes. Yet, for all her iconoclasm, her vision and flamboyance led to the establishment of Slim's, a pioneering school in fashion design and dressmaking, that has shaped the careers of generations of Filipino designers.
Slim was born on 28 January 1920, to Luis Samson Lim Katiam, a Chinese émigré, and Margarita Diaz. Her father was involved in the ship chandler business while her mother remained a homemaker. The Lims has seven children—the four girls eventually ventured into fashion. They were trained by their mother to follow a disciplined life and to be independent. The virtues of diligence and punctuality later became known in the clan as the Lim work ethic.