Phillip Lim is a designer who really thinks about the needs of the modern woman and how she moves through her day. Well you don’t build a multimillion dollar business in a few short years without doing that. Last season he paid homage to girls on bikes with panelled coats and cropped pants and this season, continued the theme of movement and ease; basing the collection on the freedom and fragility of kites. So the clothes had an aerodynamic quality to them – dresses and tops were draped and folded back like origami and the jackets that looked like neoprene were actually made of leather bonded to jersey – all the better to achieve an architectural quality to it while remaining as light as air. The pastel colours looked like they had been bleached and left out in the sun too long while the splashy print that adorned trousers and dresses was that of a flashbulb popping off.

Dazed Digital: The collection looked like an evolution from last season.
Phillip Lim: Thank you. You’re the first one to have noticed that! It’s about movement and turning sportswear into ready-to-wear. Last season we had girls on bikes and this season we were inspired by kites. And actually they are the same because what makes kites fly? It’s the sense of wind.

DD: You bonded leather to jersey for the jackets – is it the first time you’ve done that?
Phillip Lim: Yeah! Last season we used neoprene so we wanted to try and achieve that with leather. It’s literally as light as air. And we also used the special weave of silk and cotton. I wanted this utilitarian sportswear feel but at the same time felt a bit old world.

DD: Is it about this idea of an active girl’s lifestyle?
Phillip Lim: It’s about a girl living her life. A lot of these clothes, they transform or reverse. It’s about the modern woman and how she lives life. How you start the day is never how you end the day. Forget day to night, it’s days within days! We don’t have enough hours. That’s my job- to look at that and maybe to make life a little easier.

DD: If there was an emotion running through the collection, what would that be?
Phillip Lim: A kite flying through the air is that image that comes to my mind.