3.1 Phillip Lim FW 15
After 10 years Philip Lim has moved from being one of NYFW’s upstarts to joining the ranks of its standard bearers, 3.1 Phillip Lim is a wardrobe mainstay for women in search of unconventional contemporary cool and there are plenty in search of just that. Business is booming and Lim has become a global arbiter of taste, but that hasn’t hindered his creativity one bit. Those who entered his fall show expecting to see the ghosts of collections past were sorely disappointed, though Lim payed homage to several of the looks that have become his signatures, he did so without a touch of redundancy. Girl of the moment Astrid Holler stomped onto the runway in a lambskin jacket and muscle tee worn layered with asymmetrical flannel that echoed the season’s infatuation with grunge. The look had an undercurrent of toughness, but when worn with ankle boots and a swipe of russet lip-color it had a street yet sweet flavor.
The juxtaposition between pretty and edgy served as Lim’s key focus and several looks straddled the line between downtown cool and a more sophisticated sensibility. Lim nodded to the mix in his collection notes, where he expressed a desire to address the label’s core values and “re-address the systems and structures that we build along the way – even the most conventional of a system – ‘pretty’. This meant plenty of unique add-ons like a mottled red & black spider wool that covered trench coats and sleeveless pullovers with deliberately worn holes. There were a few moments of pure glamour, with detachable fur stoles amping up the luxury on bomber jackets, while a draped gown on Laura Julie adding a touch of succulent green grandeur into the mix.
Review by Janelle Okwodu
Photos by Casey Vange for models.com
