"Clothes people wear." With that deceptively simple mantra as a
guiding principle, Phillip Lim has built an impressive
contemporary label that other aspiring young designers might be
wise to study. Not only because he does a bang-up business, but
specifically because he somehow succeeds in making clothes that
look much more expensive than they actually are—not, as is too
often the case, the other way around.  With Grey Gardens' Edie
Bouvier Beale as inspiration—"pedigree minus prudence," Lim
called it backstage—the designer showed his most ambitious
collection by far. It opened with a prep schooler's bow-front
shirt, plaid skirt, and double-breasted coat and it closed with
an ivory debutante dress in laundered silk gazar. In between,
Lim perfectly evoked the studied insouciance of the swish set
with a short metallic shift over a fitted tee, a white boyfriend
blazer worn with a strapless turquoise cocktail dress, and a
tough leather jacket topping a pinafore. And even with all those
layers, a head-to-toe look