In a world obsessed with speed and spectacle, author, educator, and designer Vicky Veloso-Barrera found herself compelled to slow down, to look back, gather memories, and honor the quiet brilliance of the woman who shaped her family’s creative lineage. The result is ‘Love, Marina,’ a book she describes as a “tribute and love letter” to her grandmother: Marina Reyes Antonio, one of Manila’s pioneering pre-war fashion designers.

For Vicky, the book is deeply personal. “This is a tribute to my lola, Marina Antonio, who I think was a very phenomenal woman,” she told Manila Bulletin Lifestyle during the launch of her book last Dec. 2, 2025, at Manila House, BGC.

Born Marina del Rosario Reyes on Sept. 19, 1910, in Binondo, Manila, she grew up in a household shaped by strength and resourcefulness. When her father left the family, her mother taught her how to cook and sew—skills that became the foundation of a 50-year career in fashion.

Marina would later marry Pablo S. Antonio, National Artist for Architecture, and build a life centered on home, family, and inspired work. Long before “sustainable living” became a buzzword, she was already cultivating it.

“She was working from home. She had gardens full of native plants and fruit trees,” Vicky said. “She would get inspiration from the flowers in her garden for her gowns. They became the basis of the embellishment on the dresses she made.”

Her signature beadwork, delicate embroidery, and hand-painted details—motifs resembling roses, and graceful droplet shapes drawn from sampaguita—were not mere ornamentation. They were living stories of a garden that fed her imagination and her kitchen.

Clients who visited her home studio often experienced more than just a fitting. “They would talk about the gown for 20 minutes,” the author said, “and then spend an hour having merienda and sharing stories. They became like family.”

Beginning her career in the 1930s, Marina became one of the most sought-after designers for Manila’s elite. Her client list reads like an index of prominent women of her era: Nini Quezon, Herminia Ocampo-Mamon, and Lisa Ongpin-Periquet. She specialized in Filipiniana and wedding gowns, pieces marked by elegance and that unmistakable touch of her hand. Yet she remained unassuming.

“In that genteel world of the 1930s, they did not crave the limelight,” Vicky explained. “My lola was happy to see her brides satisfied. She didn’t need to publicize herself. Her quiet satisfaction came from doing her work well.”

Beyond her artistry, “Love, Marina” also preserves the resilience that defined Marina’s life.

She endured abandonment twice. First by her father, and later by her first husband. But Marina simply continued sewing. Through her clients, she later met Pablo Antonio, with whom she built a loving family and had six children.

She also survived breast cancer, living her life with dignity and optimism. “She didn’t make a fuss about it,” Vicky said. “She focused on life, on the garden, her kitchen, her children, her brides.”

That steadfast positivity, Vicky believes, came from deep faith. “Instead of looking for the bad, she looked for the good things,” she continued. “For me, it really stemmed from faith. I know she was a very prayerful woman, and I think faith gives her hope and optimism so that all her problems did not bring her down.”

When asked for her fondest memory, Vicky returns to the kitchen, an image of childhood warmth: “I’m in her kitchen, maybe five or six. I have a cookbook in front of me. She’s standing beside me, watching—not telling me what to do, just letting me make a mess. That presence, that’s the kind of lola she was.”

Far more than a fashion retrospective, “Love, Marina” mirrors the fullness of Marina’s world.

“It’s like a one-stop book,” Vicky said with a smile. “Among its pages are fashion notes and lessons for design students, love stories of couples for whom my lola created wedding gowns, gardening tips, and family recollections and recipes.”

Vicky herself inherited around 20 gowns, each stored carefully based on how her Lola Marina would preserve her works.

More than anything, Vicky hopes readers will take one message to heart: the value of family.

“For my Lola, family was the core of everything she did,” she said. “Because she chose to work from home, her children and grandchildren grew up surrounded by her passions—fashion, gardening, cooking. That’s why generations after her continue in architecture, fashion, landscape arts, and visual arts. We all inherited her love.”