Philipp Plein s U.S. expansion continues apace. With the opening of a Rodeo Drive boutique this fall, he now counts three stores in the States. Plein s other shops are located in Miami s Aventura Mall and New York City s Upper East Side, and his new Pre-Fall collection seemed designed with an eye to filling those spaces. Let s face it, he s never going to be the guy for Madison Avenue s stay-at-home-mommy set. His leather leggings come with deep stripes of spikes on the sides, after all. But easy-to-wear knit dresses were just as well represented as five-figure fur-trimmed and metal-studded leather motorcycle jackets, and an almost demure cabled sweater dress shared the racks with a cut-out jersey gown in the same bright shade of lilac.
Sex has been the Plein m.o. since he launched the label, but he explored an almost sweet fit-and-flare silhouette on his Spring runway. Here, a mink capelet with a panda intarsia on the back, as well as dresses with engineered prints of Transformer-type toys, while not entirely convincing, suggested he s open to trying new methods of seduction.
