When Adam Lippes credits a source of inspiration, it’s not just show buzz. This season, he cited the English homes and castles designed and modernized in the Twenties by architect Edwin Lutyens and landscape designer Gertrude Jekyll, explaining, “I love their mix of formal and informal…looks that stand the test of time.”
To that end, Lippes showed a terrific fall collection full of classics reimagined to perfection. He used wallpaper prints on oversize silk bomber jackets and easy skirts, and a brown-and-black plaid for his cashmere-trimmed, full-bodied sweatshirt and pants.
To offer an up-close view of the collection, Lippes packed the fire-warmed living room of his townhouse with 14 models, retailers and press. As in past seasons, he showed strong, disparate pieces, rather than a themed collection — although pleats were one shared detail as they skirted the back and sides of a black polo fleece cashmere coat, surfaced on crepe tunics and cotton shirts, or swung gracefully as long silk lame skirts.
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Outerwear is always a strong, if limited, niche for the house and fall’s standout was the shearling-lined denim wrap. Lippes also showed equal ease with both tailoring and volume and the slender, liquid shapes of his dresses. Case-in-point: the wisteria-patterned, glass-bead-embroidered sheer silk dress, lined in French lace.
The label will also have its own shoe collection for fall — a collaboration with Mary Alice Malone whose firm, Malone Souliers, will produce the footwear, although both parties will sell them. The perfect accent for the season: flat and kitten-heeled boots in a second-skin, stretch suede or leather, with a quirky buckle strapped across the front. Fun, but a little futuristic to “stand the test of time.”