Most designers these days name-check millennials and book them for their Insta campaigns. Not Adam Lippes. Though he recently dressed the very excellent millennial Phoebe Waller-Bridge, the English actress, writer, director, and producer, for the L.A. premiere of Solo: A Star Wars Story, for Resort Lippes quoted the style of elegant octogenarian and medical philanthropist Deeda Blair. In our youth-obsessed moment that takes a certain audacity, but Lippes has the confidence of conviction; bucking the industry trend, his business is up.
Blair’s impeccable style informed his new collection: Her taste in flowers is reflected in the prints, and her favorite color, the palest lilac, turned up on a cashmere sweatshirt and a Chantilly lace gown, among other pieces. But more than her manner of dress, what moves Lippes is Blair’s exacting sensibility, developed over decades of wearing couture. “She’s taught me things about construction,” Lippes said. A similar appreciation for the finer things infused his new lineup, from the Loro Piana wool-silk blend of a plaid sheath to a sharply tailored blazer cut from burgundy double wool milled in Italy at Marini & Cecconi. The bronze panne velvet of a boatneck shell-and-trouser set was deliciously rich while remaining understated. The rare exception to the luxurious austerity of this collection was the rather fabulous fringing on a double trench and a tuxedo blazer, leather in the first case and silk in the second. Cleverly, that fringe is removable, a detail that the disciplined Deeda would no doubt appreciate.
