Like many designers this season, Phillip Lim is rethinking the way he conceives of his menswear. But don’t expect his 3.1 show at New York Fashion Week to go coed anytime soon. Instead he’s bringing a sense of intimacy to the process with the help of Paolo Roldan, who was enlisted to play model, muse, and stylist for Fall 2017. Beyond being the star of a Givenchy campaign, the Filipino-Canadian heartthrob is famous for his killer personal style and has a dizzying array of expertly composed selfies on Instagram to prove it. Granted, not every man has the insane good looks or rock-hard abs that Roldan possesses, but his approach to dressing has a swagger and coolness about it that is undeniably authentic and appealing. He manages to make even the collection’s most fashion-y pieces—leopard-print pajamas, tailored basketball shorts, plaid judo jackets—feel grounded in reality and not some parallel editorial universe.
In any case, Lim is the kind of designer who likes to keep practicality within his line of sight, and that’s particularly true of his menswear. Part Paddington Bear coat and part puffer, the hybrid outwear in the lineup was as cozy as it was chic. Many of the embroidered “spirit animal” souvenir jackets were reversible, as were the aforementioned silk pajama pants—leopard spots on one side and white on the other for the not-so-wild at heart. It’s actually when Lim turns his hand to the most pedestrian aspects of a man’s wardrobe—flipping the pieces upside down and inside out, so to speak—that this playful fashion happens. In his hands, the velour tracksuit sheds all of its dad-bod associations (Tony Soprano on an exercise bike springs to mind) and gains modern verve, cut as tailored joggers with a bomber jacket–style zip-up top. And that’s something both well-dressed guys and tomboys who shun the idea of a Juicy Couture comeback can actually get on board with. Whether the world is ready for an Ugg revival for men remains to be seen, but Lim makes a solid case for the ugly-pretty shoe as worn by Roldan—with belted high-waisted pants, no less! His five-piece collaboration with the Australian brand is right in step with the current trend for good-taste-bad-taste partnerships.
