“I started thinking about planting our feet back into the scene and what that means, because we’ve kind of been taking a pause and reflecting. It feels like now’s the time to start leaning back into New York, so this is the beginning of an ode to New York,” Phillip Lim said during a preview in his Great Jones Street storefront, which was set up with an art installation of discarded chainlink rolled fences and bright yellow automobile parts surrounding his new collection.
To cement himself back into the city that birthed his namesake label 18 years ago, Lim expressed the importance of exploring all of the its dialogues.
“It’s so ephemeral, and a big conversation, but I think the thing is not to overthink what New York is. I think that’s the answer — the disparate ideas of the city of hopes, the city of dreams. Somewhere, somehow, someday, we’ll all be here. The ones that have been here have our own ideas of what our New York City dreams and life are, but there are elements that allow us to recognize each other and work through the beauty and the chaos, from the market totes to scraps of fabric we’ve been sitting on and turning into arts and crafts.”
Sporty T-shirts and market bags boasting souvenir memento-inspired New York City collaged graphics and naive bodega flower embroideries directly nodded to city nostalgia; dark abstract floral prints alluded to blurred city lights; star, stud and crown embellishments on his reworked Americana denim referenced the Statue of Liberty, and macrame layers derived from fabric scraps offered luxe takes on DIY style. Because Lim’s strong ideas were rendered with restraint, they played together in harmony to create an updated uniform.
There was also a presence of Broadway’s “West Side Story” for its “immigrant diaspora and looking at love against all odds, but in this context of the unfiltered reality of the city,” mixed with Lim’s signature romantic utility DNA, Victorian-era costumes and a continuation of the ‘90s pseudo grunge scene he’s been riffing on as of late, “because there’s always this rebellious nature with the people who come to New York totally.” For example, a fittingly all-black pretty cotton voile long-sleeve top and skirt with allover corset-inspired smocking and soft, voluminous sleeves with chunky combat boots and updated moto Pashli bag in nylon and leather, or a cool all-white recycled polyester smocked jacket with matching smocked cargo pants and delicate cotton voile tank.
From oversize utility jackets with midi utility skirts and relaxed trousers and crafty souvenir T-shirt slipdress to relaxed, sporty suiting, multitoned denim and softly romantic dresses, the collection embodied the eclectic spirit of the city that never sleeps in modern, fashionable ways.
