FLUORESCENT ADOLESCENT

3.1 Phillip Lim SS2012

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I got my first ever 3.1 Phillip Lim item, a pair of navy pleated trousers, and I couldn’t be happier. They looked meh — even ghastly — on the rack, but they fit me so well and the details, from the seams and hook-and-eye closure to the built-in elasticized belt and haphazardly rolled up hems, are fantastic! I can’t believe I never paid attention to this line before. 

As Matthew Schneier wrote in his review, “It’s easy to forget that, at base, Phillip Lim is a young man designing for young men. It’s a point Lim’s reiterated time and again, but his clothes occasionally tell a different story. They sometimes aim for a kind of exquisiteness, and stumble a bit when they do. But for his latest collection, Lim celebrated the young and the grungy unapologetically, and carried off a presentation with a winning energy and zest…”

The young and the grungy — I kinda like that.