Phillip Lim is opening the doors of an immersive gallery experience, “A New York City Vibration,” to the public this weekend. But before guests are able to see the artistic, visual experience of his fall collection, Lim sat down with WWD to preview the second act of his brand’s latest story — an ode to New York City titled, “Someday, Somehow, Somewhere.”
“We opened the look book dark with a lot of gravity. It’s a side of us that you know we don’t really show a lot, but it’s nice to refresh the palette and create literally a New York uniform — all black, parkas, denim, leather, but when you look closely all the femininity comes to life and reveals itself,” Lim said of his all-black opening looks. For instance, a strong parka with faux-fur atop a “concrete jungle” blouse and denim track pants with hybrid boxer waist bands, a “tough-girl” leather biker dress with softened poplin bubble skirt, or a Carhartt-inspired chocolate brown denim cropped hoodie with matching midi skirt and tall faux python boots (fittingly chic and durable for the city streets).
Like pre-fall, Lim explored different archetypes of the eclectic, energizing city in cool ways while homing in on the idea of “a journey of self-identity.”
“The reason why is because I picked two zip codes from the Upper East Side all the way to Chinatown. It’s really my journey here: my discovery of coming from California to try to fit in, in New York, but also as a product of immigrants too. There’s a section of this, besides that quintessential New York uniform, that’s a colloquial section of private schools,” Lim said. Later adding, “You start to realize the longer you stay here, no one’s in that [private] club, that’s why we’re here — we’re all misfits and troublemakers.”
He collaged the ideas together through collegiate varsity jackets, sportif casualwear and blazers (complete with debut branded emblems); bright hybrid puffer vests with wool bottoms over a Chinatown shopping bag and shop-worn textile inspired collaged printed dresses, washed “vintage” satin frocks and sweet lace-trimmed chiffon skirts; pretty devore tops (a riff off wheat-paste remnants from Wild Posting advertisements) and intriguing macrame takes on quintessential men’s striped shirting alongside strong outerwear, and easy, feminine layers. Like pre-fall, Lim referenced Lady Liberty with subtle upside-down crown-shaped darts to create the shape of a skirt while recontextualizing shimmering lights of the Empire State Building a la lightweight tinsel fringes on his grounded evening slipdress.
