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A childhood fascination with kites inspires Phillip Lim’s spring collection

The 3.1 Phillip Lim Spring 2012 collection is modeled during Fashion Week, Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2011, in New York. (AP Photo/Jason DeCrow).
The 3.1 Phillip Lim Spring 2012 collection is modeled during Fashion Week, Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2011, in New York. (AP Photo/Jason DeCrow).

NEW YORK, N.Y. – Growing up in suburban California, designer Phillip Lim would pass time as a kid making paper kites.

“We didn’t have a lot of money, and we lived near this field,” he says. “We would make paper kites and have kite wars.”

Parents, take note: The kite-making went to good use. It has inspired Lim’s spring collection, which he showed Wednesday in Soho. It was a succession of dresses, tops and other garments that fluttered and billowed across the runway.

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“It’s all about movement, and about geometry,” Lim said in a backstage interview.

A “kite back top,” in magnolia and faded orange, seemed to flutter back onto the neck of the model wearing it as she walked, giving the garment a wind-swept effect. A “kite tail top” had sail-like sashes floating from the back.

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Some pieces were deceiving. What might look like a traditional little dress from the back had a kite-like sail in front, or vice versa – like two different garments altogether.

Dresses or tops with “folded” layers were among the prettiest, most wearable offerings, giving a nice depth and sense of layering.

For the times when spring and summer turn chilly, there was a hooded parka, also with “tails,” and a number of coats that had removable sleeves. A large denim jacket with removable sleeves seemed to have a little too much heavy fabric in comparison to the offerings around it. But a “lightflash” print drape dress had a lovely weightlessness to it.

Lim attracted a hip crowd to his show, with indie music figures like Binki Shapiro, Oh Land, Theo Hutchcraft, Alexis Krauss and Tennessee Thomas gracing the front row.

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