Philip Lim

Philip Lim may have recently won a prestigious award from the CFDA, but he isn't taking any time off to rest on his laurels. On Tuesday night, stars, designers, writers and editors all turned out for the opening of Philip Lim's new boutique in SoHo.

“This spot is the perfect intersection in the city; it’s where uptown meets downtown and where local meets tourist,” said Lim of his expansive bi-level shop created by Jeremy Barbour, which opened Wednesday. “It has this great energy.”

He noted that he feels "all grown up now,” Lim said. “I can finally move away from the kiddie table and join the adults.”

CFDA Executive Director Steven Kolb noted, “Phillip embodies the new face of American design.” The event was packed with people, a testament to how rapidly Lim has become popular with the Hollywood set, despite having only been in the design business for a few short years. Notable names present included Debra Messing, John Legend, Anna Sheffield, Olivia Chantecaille, Amanda Brooks, Meredith Melling Burke, Jessica Joffe, Catalina Sandino Moreno, Eleanor Ylvisaker, and Genevieve Jones.

What's up next for Philip Lim? His future seems to be packed - he is already scouting out potential locations for a store in Los Angeles and is working on a "Go Green Go" organic collection for Barney's for the holiday season. Will he ever stop to rest? “I don’t know how you get used to this stuff,” he said. “I hope I never do.”

Photo: Philip Lim with Debra Messing at the opening of his new store tuesday night, courtesy of Fashion Week Daily.

In the recent weeks, everyone has been talking about the exploding number of celebrity designers and their effect on the fashion industry. Do celebrities have a right to call themselves 'designers'? Do they make it harder for young designers struggling to make it in the fashion industry? Last week, designer Philip Lim said that yes, celebrities make it harder for real designers, and celebrities should not design. This week, according to an article from Fashion Wire Daily, designer Zac Posen disagrees. He says, "Fashion is a business, I don't see why celebrities can't be designers. I'm happy that celebrity designers hire great young designers and design teams. I think the CFDA should link really talented young designers with great celebrities who can promote it. Not everybody's good at promoting themselves."

The article also discusses the 'cheap-chic' trend and how high fashion is becoming more and more accessible to everyone these days between celebrity designers and cheap-chic designs.

Check out the full article at Fashion Wire Daily.

Pictured: Zac Posen at the CFDA Awards, with Karen Elson.
Photo Credit: Fashion Wire Daily

A few days ago, I wrote an article on Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen's new adventures in designing, and lamented how celebrities have no real right to be designing. In a sense, they're polluting the design pool with crappy designs and no expertise, and making it harder for actual designers to make their way in the ever more competitive fashion industry. And I'm not the only one who feels this way - far from it - as today's New York Times proves. There is a growing frustration, NYT writer Eric Wilson says, among designers who are forced to compete with celebrities who know hardly a thing about true design. Philip Lim, a personal favorite designer of mine and who was honored at the CFDA Awards Monday, is interviewed in the article and explains his frustration with celebrities, who capitalize on their fame and claim to be "designers," while true designers like Philip Lim have worked extremely hard for years before making it big. Kudos to Philip Lim, I wholeheartedly agree with him. Celebrities are not designers.

Check out Wilson's article, "Stealing the Scene Along with the Store," here.

Picture: Philip Lim
Photo Credit: New York Times

When New York based designer, Philip Lim, begun including menswear outfits in his runway shows, he evoked they same premise that he had done previously with womenswear: designing comfortable, practical, and effortlessly cool - stylish items.

This season, ambition is his guiding principle - he portrays a young successful man seeking to progress. Some "romanticism" is also exposed in the fashion formula as he plays with the idea of a polished urban dandy; not the one that looks like an Italian macho, but with the kind of guy that who likes to take things nice and easy, and later drink a margarita.

In addition to the formal meets casual vibe going on, the double-breasted jackets polish the line by merging all the different style perceptions into one single garment. Consider Philip Lim as a separate side of menswear fashion. His collection is somehow different to many others - not that I’m saying that he is better or that I like him over other, he presents a complexity not transmitted by isolated items of his line, but from the entire aesthetic he depicts and the concept behind it.

In spite of being a “blockbuster” womenswear designer, he should maintain the menswear line as a smallish addition to his label. My perception is that expanding his line would only damage his prestige.