I've Loved You So Long: 3.1 Phillip Lim

Dear Kristin,
Are you aware that Fashion Week lasts a MONTH?  Yup, a week for New York, and then it's on to Europe, a big continent with many big, back-to-back fashion weeks.  So.  That's a long time to care about fashion every single day.  In other words, while there's a lot worth talking about - Rodarte's aggressive warrior princess (Zena!) dresses, Marc Jacobs's somewhat lackluster (for him, at least) fruit-flavored take on the 70s, Narciso Rodriguez's red shoes and slightly swishy shifts -  I'm only giving you the standout-to-me stuff.  We've got no time for middling.

I've loved him so long:

That's Phillip Lim and he really is, probably more than any other designer, my guy.  I don't always love him, but I always want to love him.  Wait, that came out wrong.  Because I'm not making myself feel anything I don't already feel.  He's easy to love.  And, I guess what I mean is, I always find something about his collections to love.  Like those pokadot pants.  (I also think he does the bronze on bronze

(Okay, so the middle one is more peach on peach.  Still, same drift.  Marc Jacobs, Mulberry, Philip Lim)

 better than anyone else).  And the way he seems to just throw beautiful things together, like it's just another day on the catwalk, like it ain't a thing, when it totally IS a thing.  A great thing.  So while I'm not digging this collection (it had lots of sheer and aprony layers upon layers that, while neat, didn't feel as fresh to me, probably because I used to wear the aprons and sheer layers not so long ago etc.) as much as his previous spring and fall ones, I do dig.  Ya dig?

Also, fairytale:

The dresses that struck me most at Marchesa's Spring 2011 show were the ones that appeared to have been slowly wasting away in some lost duchess's lost chamber since the Georgian period.  The look as if they'd crumble at your touch, as if they've spent the last two hundred and fifty days somewhere slightly damp (a castle, for instance) and are consequently suffering from a fungal condition.  This is all a major compliment.  I love them.  And I even admit that the final frock smells a bit of baby bird and Hostess Sno Ball:

And that the lady who owns and sports this dress will be rendered a mite crazy, but my guess is she probably is crazy, and this dress just made that crazy lady's day.

Love,
J. Benny

P.S.  POW:

Marchesa Spring 2011 (image from nymag.com, all others from style.com)

I dare you to fall all over yourself while sliding through the NYTimes's awesome close up function on their website.  It's amazing.  So it that one-should cadet grey waterfall gown.