Christian Espiritu, one of the country's leading fashion designers in the '70s and '80s, has passed away, according to a Facebook post by her daughter, Talitha Espiritu. He was 89.

"My father passed away on Father's Day [18 June in the US]," she wrote. "I love you, Dad. I will miss you forever."

Espiritu was born on 4 January 1934 in Paranaque. He took up Architecture at the University of Santo Tomas before deciding to shift to fashion design.

At the height of his career, Espiritu was the favored designer of then First Lady Imelda Marcos, and also served as costume designer for a string of top-grossing movies. He also directed the 1980 movie "Alaga", starring a young Edu Manzano.