Phillip Lim (born 1973) is an American fashion designer of Chinese ancestry. He was awarded the 2007 Council of Fashion Designers of America Emerging Talent in Womenswear award for his work as creative director of 3.1 Phillip Lim. He worked at the label Development from 2000 to 2004, and has been the head of 3.1 Phillip Lim from 2004 to present.
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 presentation, was initially marred by problems with lighting. The show, however, 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.