Phillip Lim is an American fashion designer of Chinese descent whose parents immigrated to America from Thailand during the Cambodian genocide. Lim co-founded and worked at the Los Angeles-based fashion label Development from 2000 to 2004. In the fall of 2005, he co-founded 3.1 Phillip Lim with friend and business partnerWen Zhou, becoming the company's creative representative. Lim has garnered both critical and commercial success with his eponymous line. The Council of Fashion Designers of America awarded Lim the 2007 award for Emerging Talent in Womenswear for his work at 3.1 Phillip Lim. In 2012, he was awarded the Council's Swarovski award for Menswear.
3.1 Phillip Lim
3.1 Phillip Lim is Lim's fashion label. It is projected to have sales of 60 million USD in 2011.
Collections
For the line's fall 2006 collection, Lim aimed to "inject some 'street elegance' " into his designs. Laird Borrelli of Vogue praised his work as a "pretty-but-cool clothes" that "don't try too hard". Lim's spring 2007 collection, His first runway show was praised as "lovely" by Nicole Phelps of Vogue, who said Lim proved himself to be an "accomplished tailor". His clothes were romantic and predominantly white, with occasional navy and floral elements. Phelps noted Lim's "knack for combining the dressy and the casual", saying that "Lim knows how fashionable women want to dress". The line's fall 2007 collection was inspired by socialite Edith Bouvier Beale and meant to embody what Lim called "pedigree minus prudence". In what Phelps described as Lim's "most ambitious collection by far", Lim showed prep-school plaids and debutante-inspired dresses. For his Resort 2008 collection, Lim revisited his standby motifs. His fall 2009 was inspired by the youthquake movement of the 1960s in England. Lissie Trullie's band performed live on his runway. In its fifth year the brand, known for its effortlessly chic and youthful elegance, has seen immense critical and commercial success with stores in New York City, Los Angeles, Tokyo, and Seoul. On September 15, 2013, Lim's collaboration with retail chain Target debuted to select Target stores in the United States of America, and Canada. The fall collection included both women's and men's apparel and accessories ranging in price from $19.99 to $299.99.
