Adam Lippes is in growth mode. He’s got a salon-style store on Fifth Avenue that’s redefining luxury shopping and a growing list of boutiques here in the US and in Japan. But it’s not just on the retail front where change is happening. With this pre-fall collection he’s experimenting with new pattern-making techniques, cutting shirts and dresses from circles, squares, and rectangles, which adds an element of avant-garde artsiness to his soigné aesthetic. It’s an exciting development.
The new shapes were inspired by a trip to Sicily where the summertime heat affirmed the usefulness of roomy silhouettes cut away from the body. There’s also an emphasis on fabrics with a dry, crisp hand, like the cotton organdy he used for a sleek chocolate brown trench and a voluminous honey-colored jacket, shown belted in the lookbook. Clicking through these pictures you’ll notice ruffled skirts with asymmetric hemlines; on one side they dip to the ankles and on the other they inch above the knee—that’s another way to capture the airy feeling he was going for.
The painterly flower print that appears on a generously proportioned caftan is inspired by the rhododendron bushes that grow so lavishly in Sicily, while a diamond print motif (not featured in the lookbook) is a reference to the 18th century Palazzo Castelluccio. Lippes mentioned that it’s also a nod to his redesigned logo, which can be seen elsewhere, on a peekaboo evening dress embroidered in a crosshatch of gold beads, the glammest fishing net you ever did see. For those not island bound, he cut some cool baggy jeans in Japanese denim. Next year promises even more big news here; Lippes hinted at a category launch in mid-2025—lots to look forward to.
