3.1 Phillip Lim Spring 2016: Florals, leathers and silks
By The Stylish Wanderer
It's Phillip Lim's 10th runway anniversary, and he seems to have completely disregarded Meryl Streep's (aka Miranda Priestly in the Devil Wears Prada) sage sarcastic commentary: "Florals? For spring? groundbreaking."
In fact, Lim seems to have taken the spring season's most favorite characteristic and run away with it, splashing it on dresses, jackets and trousers. The result is a pretty, if old, take on springtime wear. In his 52 look collection, Lim has attempted to bring back the sporty windbreakers of 80s fare and hoped to put a new, refreshing spin on them: clean colors paired with ruffled edges, neon drawstrings and patterned florals. These jackets are then coupled with a matching champagne colored pair of paper-bag waisted structural shorts. Or a pastel baby blue short with pockets and coordinating floral blouse. On the very bottom, Lim has come up with mid-calf hitting peep toe heels, which do nothing for anybody's legs if you're larger than a size 00.
Where Philip Lim's real strength comes in— and as always come in as far as I'm concerned— is in dresses and leather jackets. It's there that Lim finds his home in a structurally beautiful green silk dress, which corresponds later to a brallette and skirt two piece that I wish I had the cash money to afford. Later on, Lim pairs a navy pinstripe pattern with a Hawaiian floral on an asymmetrical skirt, which actually reads fresh instead of outdated. However, he then took that same pinstripe to create a ruffled, almost androgynously cut blouse that did nothing for the eye or the wearer. The stand out piece for the show was his orange-colored leather motorcycle jacket, a staple that he should continue to produce until the metaphorical cows come home.
On the whole, Lim's efforts seem harried and misplaced. Where there are some nice ideas, ultimately nothing about it does the man's legacy justice, especially considering its his 10th anniversary.
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More on fashion week:
Jenny Packham Spring 2016: Flowy gowns and structured trousers
Prabal Gurung serves up fiery tones and sequins
Rachel Zoe's spring collection speaks to the cool girl in you
