The untold story of Sandy Higgins
MANILA, Philippines — Being the firstborn baby girl of a famous fashion designer had its traumas. Sandra Louise Lim Higgins’ entire bedroom and furnishings were pink. All of her party dresses, albeit in the finest Swiss organdies and cotton piqués, were pink. During her birthday parties she had three dresses to wear, which the yaya would change her into periodically. Needless to say, as she grew older Sandy became a bit of a fashion rebel, turning her back on the fashion world and till the very end of her days, detested the color pink.
My mother used to tell me that when Sandy was a little girl, she was always very precocious. She had a serious expression, scrutinizing people and mistrusting them even at that age — and she hardly ever smiled. Then two years later I came along… the court jester. I looked a bit like a frog, with eyes far apart, no hair and a wide, flat nose. My mom said that was the only time she began to smile — I guess she must have thought I was funny.
Sandy grew up to be an accomplished, serious, responsible young adult with her feet solidly on the ground, while I became the flighty, artsy, irresponsible fashion victim with my head way up in the clouds. And though this frustrated her a lot, even as we grew older I often made her smile. I became the court jester all of her life — a lot of things I did continued to amuse her.
Little fish in a big pond
Sandy was the perfect daughter who did all the right things. She got good grades in high school, and earned a degree in Film Production at York University in Toronto. In 1984 she began her career in advertising in Hong Kong as a junior copywriter at Leo Burnett. In less than 10 years she joined Grey Hong Kong, setting up offices in Guangzhou, Shanghai and Beijing as executive creative director for what then became Grey China. By this time, three of the four heads of the agency were women. And one of them was Sandy.
Christopher Kyme, cofounder and creative director of KymeCheow and longtime colleague of Sandy’s, wrote one of the most amusing descriptions of their first encounter: “I first met her when I had landed in Hong Kong at Leo Burnett as a ‘hot’ new copywriter hire fresh from London. Cocky and full of myself. And here was this beautiful, petite Eurasian princess with an American accent who waltzed in off a plane one morning complaining about jetlag and looking for someone to fetch her a coffee. I thought — what??? Have I just turned up in a Harold Robbins novel?”
By the year 2000, Sandy formed The Tank with a business partner — a small company that was a mix of strategic development think tank and advertising agency. Starting her professional life as a little fish in the big pond that was Hong Kong, she had risen to the top of her field by the time she left.
Our rebel finds her cause
By 2008 Sandy partially migrated back to Manila so we could work on the coffee-table book and retrospective exhibition of our mother’s work entitled Slim: Salvacion Lim Higgins. Two years later we took over Slim’s Fashion & Arts School, which would have surprised our mother, who believed we each had our own unique path in life and never expected us to do such a thing.
The school became our shared advocacy. The fact that it was talent and not economic background that leveled the playing field appealed to us immensely. Founded in 1960, it had a very solid curriculum, and very in-depth training in the technical aspects. Because of the level of skills a graduate would have, our vision was that the country could become known for artisanal, exquisitely crafted clothing rather than fight a losing battle with other countries that had huge populations doing cheap mass production.
The school represented everything to Sandy — it had become her family and her life. We would work tirelessly together on it, battling out ideas, contradicting one another and ultimately being rewarded by some of the most talented people in the industry. Sandy championed many of the gifted students, even helping to create an educational fund to help those who could not afford to continue their lessons. In each of its six decades many successful alumni contributed their legacy to Philippine fashion history. Beginning with Oskar Peralta then Joe Salazar and Cesar Gaupo, the list continues on to what Sandy referred to as “The Rock Stars” — the likes of Michael Cinco, Ezra Santos, Joey Samson, Albert Andrada, and so on.
Defiance
In the past two years, Sandy was being treated for a serious illness, which she spoke to very few people about, not wanting this to take over her life. Being a visionary, her work was far more important to her.
We traveled on many long trips together, she was involved in my solo art exhibition in February 2019, and we launched the most successful Student Exhibition for the school in October 2019.
We were working intensely this past year and negotiating to bring the school to its next level when the pandemic hit and everything got put on hold. Her physical condition was also wearing down. Yet even during this time, when the news reached her that healthcare workers were short of PPE outfits, she helped mobilize many student volunteers who were homebound with sewing machines to create as many of these as they could, even advising the Office of the Vice President on the logistics of distribution and delivery.
I made a final promise to Sandy that I would take care of the school, continue the legacy and support the future “rock stars” to be. She spent her last few days quietly and peacefully with me at home, as the world outside our walls fell into chaos. Andrew Cawte, another one of Sandy’s advertising colleagues, very aptly said, “I can just see that slightly disapproving look on her face as she arrived in heaven and quietly decided there was work to be done.”
