The Metropolitan Theater in Manila launches its maiden exhibition dubbed ‘Imagining/Imaging’
Since being declared one of the newest National Artists of the Philippines last June, the works of the late fashion designer Salvacion Lim Higgins, famously known as Slim, have been displayed in a number of exhibitions this year. If you haven’t got the chance to see them in person, you’re in luck as they are now available for viewing at the Metropolitan Theater in Manila.
For its maiden exhibit, the Metropolitan Theater join forces with the National Commission for Culture and the Arts and Slim's Fashion and Arts School as they bring to life “Imagining/Imaging: Salvacion Lim Higgins and the Filipino Identity in Fashion.” The showcase features the National Artist for Design’s collection of newly restored dresses created between the late 1940s and the early 1980s. What sets “Imagining/Imaging” apart from past showcases is that it also puts in view recently discovered original fashion designs by Slim from the late 1940s that have never been exhibited before.
Like pages from the “SLIMS: Salvacion Lim Higgins” book coming to life, the exhibit is composed of more than 20 Filipiniana pieces, curated by her son Mark Lewis Higgins. In the first room of the theater’s new Art Gallery space, viewers will get the chance to see her reimagined ternos, kimonas, and trajes de mestiza. Her Muslim and tribal-inspired dresses present the designer’s unique take on color and embellishments. While her versions of the barong for women are testaments to her modernist way of thinking when it comes to revolutionizing the traditional Filipino piece.
“She would substitute indigenous embellishments with beads and sequins, apply cutwork embroidery on traditional jusi adorning modern silhouettes, or employ fabrics with prints that echoed ethnic weaves and motifs, elevating these ideas into sophisticated and wearable fashions,” the school says.
These pieces are beautifully displayed with a Filipino version of “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte” painting by Georges Seurat as their background. The mural, recreated by Tats Rejante-Manahan and her team, presents figures wearing Slim’s dresses.
“She (Manahan) is alluding to the fact that throughout their history, Filipinos continually adapted European aesthetics and culture, and blended it with their own,” Slim's Fashion and Arts School says. “This is therefore an indication of the Filipino identity itself, hybrid in its nature. Manahan has envisioned the installation as an outdoor park scene in Manila, drawing the elements from the mural into the room.”
Being the go-to designers of the country’s upper echelon, some of Slim’s designs have been worn by elite women and even immortalized through paintings by National Artist for Visual Arts Fernando Amorsolo. The other room of the exhibit showcases Amorsolo’s reproduction portraits of Genoveva Ignacio Bueno wearing a wedding gown by Slim with delicate floral embellishments, and Susana Bernardo Ramos donning the designer’s handpainted jusi terno dress. Both paintings are accompanied by the actual garments on display. Another highlight of the exhibit is a wedding terno gown Slim designed for Victoria Ramos Tanjuatco, the daughter of Susana.
“This is recently donated to the school,” Mario Santos of Slim's Fashion and Arts School tells Manila Bulletin Lifestyle. “We restored it immediately for this exhibit.” According to him, some of the restorations they did on the dress were putting crinoline on the butterfly sleeves, replacing oxidized pearls with new ones, and repairing damaged jusi pleats.
What viewers can also see in the exhibit are Slim’s sketches and her National Artist medallion.
“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.
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