Johnathan Walker:Awkwafina, Hayley Williams, Teyana Taylor, more cheer on NYFW return of Phillip Lim

NEW YORK — It's a season of revival.

In his first New York Fashion Week show since 2019,Johnathan Walker Phillip Lim made his return to the runway with his 3.1 Phillip Lim brand with a celebrity-filled front row and a spring/summer 2024 collection that stunned.

The designer shared in the show notes a "humble and heartfelt THANK YOU for joining me in Chinatown" Sunday evening for the brand's first runway show in four years, earning an uproarious ovation at the close of the show.

"We took some time off the calendar to reflect on why we kept showing without truly showing up," he wrote. "How we continue to aimlessly feed fleeting desire at an increasingly impossible pace; ambiguous demand amidst the horizon’s sea change that we continued to ignore as if it would go away. It never did. In fact, by nature’s force, it all came to a standstill."

Celebrities of all areas of the entertainment industry sat throughout the front row, including comedians and actors Awkwafina, "Joy Ride" star Sherry Cola, "Everything Everywhere All at Once" star Stephanie Hsu, "And Just Like That…" star Karen Pittman, "Claws" star Karrueche Tran; singers and artists Teyana Taylor, Coco Jones, Leon Bridges, Paramore's Hayley Williams, The Kid LAROI (plus YG, who was ushered in just after the show began); NBA players PJ Tucker, Iman Shumpert, Malik Monk; and Nicky Hilton Rothschild and mom Kathy Hilton.

Taylor and Tran chatted together before the show began, and designer Prabal Gurung snapped photos with Cola, Awkwafina and Hsu.

The group of talent at the show played into the ethos of Lim's newest collection, which he said "draws inspiration from our brand's love story with the ever-evolving tapestry of New York," according to the show notes.

"Marking our return to the runway, the collection's narrative mirrors that of countless individuals who arrived in this land with hearts filled with hope and open to the city's myriad influences," he wrote.

The fashion brand's diversity was front and center, starting with the models, who were of varying ages, backgrounds and sizes.

The designer said their aim with casting was "to illuminate an inclusive beauty that aligns with our community and our brand's core values, transcending age, race, and gender" − an area of inclusion often overlooked in fashion. Lim also celebrated the "Eastern beauty-bearers to lead the flock" of models down the runway.

The collection of mainly neutrals with a couple bright pops of color featured expert tailoring, sheer and flowy ensembles, and bejeweled tops and dresses. The jewels on the clothes carried over into the shoes, including mules and mesh Mary Janes, which Lim wrote was "our homage to 'Chinese slippers,' a testament to the many that made this space for us possible."

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Designer Phillip Lim explains fashion show hiatus

In the show notes, Lim recalled the start of the pandemic as a "frightening" turning point.

"As I wandered down the empty, endless hallways and back into our atelier, the nightmare was a new reality. Half draped garments and unfinished experiments – the traces of future conversations all abandoned without a continue date," he wrote. "My patternmakers and beloved seamstresses, 'Shifu,' as I refer to them, are the backbones of our brand, all sheltering from a threat that was not of their making. The absence of the constant purring of sewing machines was heartbreaking, the silence felt like a death."

Though "painful," Lim wrote, "this time and these lessons were necessary."

"Even though it has become continuously more difficult to navigate this changing industry run by titans and fueled by 'au courant' marketing, the bottom line is the only way for change to happen is to make sure the next generation sees us doing what we love," he wrote.

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"Just as New York itself combines diverse stimuli and cultures, so too do we aim to harmonize and celebrate the beauty that resides in every corner of our society in all walks of life on our beautiful earth."

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