Phillip’s Concept

Phillip Lim just gave us another reason to shop DTLA’s Arts District. The New York designer of 3.1 Phillip Lim, who grew up just south of L.A. in Westminster, celebrated the recent opening of his chic concept store, which showcases Lim’s elegantly minimal, masculine-meets-feminine designs. “When I moved to L.A., I wanted a Spanish-style house, and this is the first step, these adobe walls,” Lim said of the store’s open floor plan defined by two freestanding white adobe walls. The new store carries the full range of women’s and men’s products by Lim, including the popular Alix handbags with paperclip-like closures, studded Patsy mules, corset-waist dresses with T-shirt bodices and pearly button bomber jackets, as well as men’s T-shirts and trousers.

It’s also decorated with paintings, furniture, objets and books supplied by partners Patrick Parrish Gallery, Li Inc., Apparatus, M. Crow and Mast Books. “Some things are for sale, and some are not,” said Lim. “It’s just nice to create a community.” Lim co-founded and worked at the L.A.-based fashion label Development from 2000 to 2004. In the fall of 2005, he co-founded 3.1 Phillip Lim with friend and business partner Wen Zhou, now the company’s CEO. Together, the two have grown the business into a $40 million-plus brand, with 16 freestanding  stores and 450 points of sale around the world. www.31philliplim.com