Designer A-Z

3.1 Phillip Lim

Spring/Summer 2012

SHOW SCHEDULES

By Carrie Gorman

Phillip Lim began piecing together multiple layers and slicing apart single ones last season.

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This puzzle technique continues for spring, resulting in slashes down the sides of trousers, detachable sleeves, adjustable zips and overlapping seams. In short, a Swiss Army collection.

The primary inspiration was kites which, read in the show notes afterwards, made perfect sense. The billowing panels on racer-back tops, the tail collars on loose jackets. Flowing fabrics was the aesthetic here, but in Lim style, still managing to be neat and tailored. And with all that layering, possibly the most workaday solution for sheers we've seen.

Sherbet pastels reigned in the first half, pointing to a building trend after Preen, moving towards monochrome and his fail-safe neutrals in the second. And a year after bags were first introduced, a strong, geometric selection that should become a "thing". Special mention goes to the shoes: the Cody sandals had silver block heels and platform flats with transparent Perspex mules. If Lim has solved the Perspex shoe condensation issue, we'll take one of each.