Phillip Lim is one of those freakishly savvy designers who can produce bull's-eye trend pieces (we spotted our Big Three on the runway: shearling-lined leather, loud prints, and extreme asymmetry) without batting an eyelash, but is still visionary enough to make totally unique--and strangely convincing--suggestions of his own. As in, who knew that we needed mohair bell-bottoms so bad?
In a welcome break from all the 90's mall-worshipping that's gone down the catwalks this week, Lim looked back twenty years further, to the moment when disco club culture gave way to the grittier punk rock movement of the late 1970's. The aforementioned plaid mohair (incarnated not only in flares, but a jumper, cape, and roll-hem mini) opened the show, melting into daytimey gray suiting, casual denim with shearling accents, camel-colored outerwear--and tons of groovy bell-bottom options.
The second half of the collection was dominated by gold and purple sequin pieces worn with punky black leather and studded pieces (like baby blue shorts layered with grommeted "petals", for lack of a better word). Lim's woman seems to have matured with this collection, dealing less in girlish florals and more in strong shapes and sharp details. The floor-length asymmetrical silk tunics seem a little "Cher" at first, but we think Debbie Harry would have rocked 'em on one of her fancier days.
