"Everyone says to back off aesthetically," said Phillip Lim, days before his show. "But that s not what s selling." Clearly, that counseling script should be flipped, and "everyone" should instead be heeding Lim, he of the stellar sell-throughs. The designer said he had been thinking about recasting basics, and working on a kind of primitive collage concept inspired by a visit to the Picasso: Mosqueteros show at the Gagosian. But unlike Fall s collection, with its bohemian rock-chick vibe, Spring wasn t about an overarching theme or look: It was about giving them a reason to shop, and as such, there were many arguments here for a girl to unfreeze her AmEx.
Lim set the stage with a jaggedly geometric red runway and opened with a lipstick-red suit. You might have mistaken it for a jumpsuit, but that s because the jacket was unlined and light enough to be tucked in. Lim called it "the new suit." It s machine-washable. The new dress, meanwhile, is a swingy, heart- and purse-string-pulling collage with panels of knife pleats, leather, and sequins, arranged in various compositions—perhaps a few too many. An iridescent sequined top and shorts will also send the Lim-ings off a shopping cliff. There was yet more specialness in a basic navy knit spiffed up with a croc jacquard, or the miss-it-from-the-second-row subtle lizard pattern on a blush trench—the result of the designer s recent reptile obsession. In short, this was a collection to sell, sell, sell, no matter what the prevailing wisdom.
