SLIM’s Fashion & Arts School is Now an Institution of De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde

by Manifest Magazine
June 3, 2026

The Philippines’ oldest fashion design school, SLIM’s Fashion & Arts School, founded by National Artist Salvacion Lim Higgins, is now an institution under the De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde (DLS-CSB).

DLS-CSB is reknowned for its Bachelor of Arts in Fashion Design and Merchandising. Bringing SLIM’s Fashion & Arts School into DLS-CSB will allow the college to continue and strengthen the fashion legacy of Salvacion Lim Higgins, together with the college’s focus on creative and academic excellence.

SLIM’s Fashion & Arts School’s historical fashion collection and its founder’s legacy of garments, clothing, photographs, renderings, books, and magazines have been transferred to the custody, care, and responsibility of DLS-CSB through the Benilde Fashion Museum in September 2025.

SLIM’s will continue its programs and legacy of providing technical and creative fashion education through its new name SLIM’s Fashion & Arts School: An Institution of De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde. Likewise, its courses and workshops will now be held in the campus of DLS-CSB in 2544 Taft Avenue, Malate, Manila.

Some of SLIM’s courses or workshops under its new name and location have been the following:

• Short Course on Costume Design and Construction

Founded in 1960 in Manila, Philippines by Filipino fashion designer and now National Artist Salvacion Lim Higgins together with her sister Purificacion Lim, SLIM’s Fashion and Arts School became the first fashion design school established in the country.

The name of the school, SLIM, is from S. Lim — the founder’s initial S is for Salvacion and her surname Lim. She first used this brand “Slim” for her atelier or fashion design shop which she opened in 1947 also in Manila.

Before being posthumously given the title of National Artist of the Philippines in the field of design in June 2022, Salvacion has been described by many critics as the “Mother of the Modern Terno.” The modern terno is the contemporary interpretation of the traditional Filipino dress.

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Manifest Magazine

MANIFEST Magazine is a globally-minded editorial publication exploring fashion, beauty, art, culture, and meaningful living, capturing not only style and creativity, but also the deeper dimensions of life across the Philippines and global landscapes. Designed with an elegant keepsake book, MANIFESTS preserves memorable stories and visual narratives that shape the contemporary spirit of the Philippines, while celebrating Filipino creativity and identity. MANIFEST was established in 2021 by founder Czarina Denise Flores, whose lineage in journalism and legacy of championing the Filipino voice trace back through generations of journalists, including her grandfather, Filipino-American founder, publisher, editor-in-chief of The Filipino Press, Ernesto “Ernie” Flores Jr., known as the “Dean of Filipino-American Journalists in San Diego, California, USA,” whose legacy deeply influenced her writing journey.