While other fashion houses may be paring back as a response to the
difficult economy, Phillip Lim, never one to take the prescribed
route, went the other way with an impressive stand-alone menswear
presentation this season for the first time. "I felt it was time to
stop ignoring half the population," said Lim after the presentation,
"as a guy and a fashion fanatic, I had to do this for my life. Fashion
is like oxygen to me, my designs are personal." Inspired by 50s and
60s poets, musicians and artists, Lim's SS10 collection titled
'Neo-Beatniks' involved, said im, "No power suits, no ego - just a
power spirit." Aiming to convey a sense of intimacy, Lim presented his
collection in a whitewashed set designed by designer Andrew Ondrejcak
that referenced bohemian living spaces. Guests, scotch rocks or
ice-latte in hand, walked through a cavernous warehouse space that
featured a central series of rooms and limited furniture including a
piano (that was being played by a model) inhabited by numerous models
in Lim's latest wares, described by the designer as, "classic with a
sense of madness."

Report by Indigo Clarke on 12 September 2009.