Phillip Lim returned to the catwalk in September for the first time in four years, with a collection that mixed gloss and practicality in a way that was particularly reminiscent of New York. Denim in anything but average shapes, boxy button-downs and briefs for men, leggings with fold-over waistbands topped with bare shirts – Lim runs a business from Great Jones Street and has a good sense of the special. but not expensive clothes that fit here. We don’t run around in stilettos, even though TV shows would have non-New Yorkers believe.
Pre-fall picks up where the show left off. It is a collection of urban foundations: essential, but not basic. One of his suits, made from a nubby linen-wool blend, comes with shorts, no trousers; another, in technical stretch viscose, has a short-sleeved jacket with a safari back. There are two denim jackets in the lookbook; one has no collar, the other is split with a sharply cut blazer. And the dresses that look like two-piece sweater and panty sets are actually easy one-and-dones.
“For fall, it’s like back to school for me,” he said during a preview at his store. Looking for wardrobe updates, his clients might be drawn to a car coat with curved seams that give it a generous shape; it scores high on the utility scale. A midi dress with a patchwork of floral prints reads more playfully, but it is certainly not simple; it would be especially useful on the hottest days of summer. The shoe of the season is a ballerina with an asymmetrical toe and a small block heel, fun but also functional.
