It’s an exciting time for Adam Lippes, who this week returned from his first trip to Japan, where his namesake brand recently opened its first office and is working on its first store there, slated to open in 14 months. It’ll be his fifth store, following his recently opened Palm Beach and Upper East Side, N.Y. locations, with more planned in the coming years.
At his uptown, by-appointment salon, the racks were filled with luxury looks inspired by another trip — this one to Sicily over the summer. During his travels, the designer visited the Palazzo Castelluccio, the 18th century palace recently restored by filmmaker Jean-Louis Remilleux.
The collection’s “dusty” palette and two prints were inspired by the island’s private, decorative homes, said Lippes, whose own home in the Berkshires was featured in AD this year.
A large floral print felt as if it was growing out of the ground and onto the collection’s beautiful double-face duchesse silk dress, while a diamond motif was both a nod to the Palazzo’s tiled floors and the brand’s new subtle monogram logo.
One of the most noticeable, and wonderful, aspects of Lippes pre-fall collection was its amount of sophisticated yet airy silhouettes. “A lot of the clothes are away from the body because it was so hot there,” Lippes said of the garments’ practicality, seen in barely there voile and sheer cotton organdy fluid layers from head to toe.
Many of the looks were cut as geometric patterns, like crisp, circular poplin blouses with new paper waist bag pants or sun-bleached Japanese denim jeans; voluminous caftans or an enveloping black tunic cut in a rectangle, to name a few. They played into his overall goal of offering sensuality through sheerness, without being vulgar — it worked well.
And alongside these easy, ultra-breezy summer staples, Lippes offered his signature dressed-up elements, as seen in pale pink silk wool tailoring, playful asymmetric silk knit ruffled skirts; a pretty white floral jacquard frock that would make for a great alternative bridal look, and a stellar grouping of gilded, spongey knit jacquard numbers such as a lady dress or bra top with lengthy pencil skirt.
All in all, a strong collection for the growing luxury brand.
