Forever begins with Francis Libiran

The smile that lounged on Francis Libiran’s face last Thursday when he launched the Francis Libiran Bridal, his off-the-rack, one-stop wedding shop in Greenbelt 5 in Makati City, was indicative of his success in the fashion business.

Moët flowed in an avalanche so did praises and good words from his clients. All these scenes of happiness were witnessed by the mannequins in tulle Mikado silk, silk crepe and gazar. The joy he felt beautifully draped Francis that moment, the way an elegant wedding dress glides down the curves of a Francis Libiran bride.

Behind every brand the public trusts is a story of survival. Francis’ tale of success is no different.

At the onset, Francis’ “story of survival” was not apparent. He grew up in a well-to-do and conservative family. His dad Francisco, who taught him the value of hard work, heard Mass every day. (To this day, Francis also goes to Mass every day. He is a creature of habit that he also goes to the gym every day.) His mom Rebecca, from whom he pooled his creative genes, was traditional in her ways.

Because his parents owned a food business, car exchange enterprise and were also into buy-and-sell of houses in Ayala Alabang Village, they gave their six children the luxury they deserved. Every child went into the medical and allied field except Francis, a licensed architect from the University of Santo Tomas.

To the manor Francis was born. It was in the same manor at the early age of eight that he learned to keep a secret. He would draw long dresses and wedding gowns at the back of his notebooks, tear the pages and keep them in a secret, sacred space in his drawer inside his room. Not even the security guards in their Ayala Alabang home should know. And he was successful in carrying his secret. It was the same juvenile secret Francis celebrated deep inside him every time his mom would ask him to accompany her to her kusturera (seamstress).

“All the while, my creativity was present. I knew who I was but I kept it to myself because of my respect and love for my family,” he says. But time came when Francis learned to also love and respect his true self. At 20, when his father asked about the pronounced absence in their home of Francis’ girlfriend of two years, he admitted to his dad he was gay.

He recalls: “When I came out to my dad, he gave me two options: to change my ways or to just to stay home.” Francis opted for neither and, with tears, took the bus from Alabang to Quezon City, his very first time to take public transport. His car was taken back from him. And with P50,000, the money he saved from being a draftsman in an architectural firm in Makati, he started in 1997 a fashion business called Njork, whose 20-sq.-m. space he rented from his maternal grandmother on Scout Fernandez in Quezon City. (Njork, according to Francis’ good friend, confidante and business partner Arsi Baltazar, was the favorite expression of Francis in the ‘90s every time the latter was surprised or dumbfounded.)

“I felt so free. And I knew I had to succeed. I was driven to fulfill my dream,” he says. With his dream to prove himself and his innate talent, which he further honed at the Fashion Institute of the Philippines (where he met his best friend, fellow designer Nat Manilag), Francis started to weave his future with one sewing machine, one seamstress and a secretary in his little paradise masquerading as an atelier.

Though Njork was supposed to be a shop primarily for men’s suits and polos, Francis remembers that his very first three clients looked for something else. Three young ladies and classmates looking for a prom gown dropped by right after Francis put up the tarpaulin sign of his shop. For each of them, he created a tri-color ruched gown in layers of chiffon. Each gown would cost P10,000 but the girls only had P3,000 each. Francis gave in and charged everything to experience.

A few days after, a neighbor in Quezon City asked him to design a wedding gown. “I enjoyed so much doing that wedding gown that when my client walked down the aisle, I was the one crying. I cried because, for the first time, I created a wedding gown and my creation was taking its own life when my design took part in this special moment of my very first bride,” Francis says, joy is seen in his handsome bedimpled face.

From then on, words started to slowly get around and Francis also became the BFFs of plus-size brides. One bride-to-be came to him crying because she was already rejected by four top designers in Manila. Francis wiped her tears when he started to take her measurements.

“I want to make people happy. I’m easy to talk to because I make every encounter with my client an enjoyable experience. I want to make princesses and queens with my creations,” says Francis, who humbly adds that his talent only made it to the consciousness of the general public when he made the two gowns of Tinseltown’s celebrity Kim Chiu for her debut in 2008. By this time, his brand was already known as Francis Libiran, a change in business name he made in 2005.

Since then, Francis has made gowns for celebrity brides like Pauleen Luna and Maricar Reyes. Soon, for actress Kaye Abad.

The 60-sq.-m. Francis Libiran Bridal store is the designer’s imprint of success as he enters his 20th year in the business. According to the designer, the store was born out of his love for clients who think twice about getting from him a couture creation, which bears a higher price tag. This business venture is his collaboration with Arsi Baltazar and Francis’ life partner Christian Mark Jacobs, an American business developer and entrepreneur who sells education franchises in Asia and the Middle East. (Theirs is a love story that was found in Paris, pursued in Manila and celebrated in all parts of the world.)

The off-the-rack bridal gowns and gowns for the entourage are his ode to the women who want to wear a Francis Libiran design. Because a bride’s concern is always having a unique gown, the Francis Libiran Bridal makes sure add-ons can be executed in every gown, to cater to the specification of each client. In effect, no two gowns will look the same, even if they are off-the-rack.

Francis also now has a line of fine engagement rings and wedding bands at his store in Greenbelt 5. His line of Francis Libiran watches is displayed in his atelier at The Peninsula Manila.

The designer makes his creations quite accessible to his clients that BPI Credit Card holders can buy wedding gowns in Francis Libiran Bridal and avail themselves of zero-percent interest, 12 months to pay.

 “I always put it in mind when I make a wedding gown that the bride will only wear it once and I have to give my best,” he says.

Francis has heard of many compliments both from his clients and industry observers. But the best praise he received from his dad. Yes, from his father who said — after Francis made him a regular two-button black suit, which he hand carried to the US, where Francis’ entire family is based now — “Ang ganda nito, anak.” Francis melted in his father’s arms.

Now, his father is his No. 1 fan.

From the love he gets from his family, fiancé and friends, Francis continues to spin his creativity. His talent in design is like the silk fabric he uses in his every creation — resilient, refined, elastic, elegant and strong. It is the same creativity that he has had inside him when everything about him was still a secret. It is the same ingenuity that Francis puts in his timeless, classy designs.

“I am happy to make people happy with my designs,” he ends, his words like the fine silk threads cascading down his soul.

(For your new beginnings, e-mail me at bumbaki@yahoo.com.

I’m also on Twitter @bum_tenorio and Instagram @bumtenorio. Have a blessed Sunday.)