3.1 Phillip Lim for Everyone!

Filling up Spring Studios—the newly opened, cavernous floor-through loft in Tribeca—is no easy feat, but to say the crowd was packed for last night's Phillip Lim for Target launch is no small understatement. Superb people-watching aside, the focal point of the party was an enormous digital screen that ran the length of the space and offered different interactive features, each from a scene shot in a different city. "Instead of thinking about our lives in a bubble," explained Lim, "I wanted to go across the nation and look for local street style and tastemakers, and bring them back here to New York for fashion week. It's incredible." Incredible it was: Blow on some pinwheels here, and balloons on the screen started to move. Hold up your camera phone there, and a seated Mr. Lim turned around to pose with you for a selfie.



When guests weren't busy playing with the installation, they were shopping. One of the first styles to fly off the shelves was a "Boom!" sweater, a riff on the "Ka-Pow!" knit Lim did for Pre-Fall last year. Why so similar? The designer told Style.com, "I wanted this project to be parallel to what we do with the main collection, so you can look at it, without seeing the label, and say, 'That is Phillip Lim!'



"The 'Boom!' print is about being an everyday hero," he added. Solange Knowles planned to buy the sweater for her mother, telling Style.com, "One minute, she has my sister calling her for baby tips, and the next, I'm calling—I'm buying a house in New Orleans—asking about termite damage! And somehow she makes time to do it all." (Solange's sister, in case you didn't know, is Beyoncé.) If the empty racks at the end of the night are any indication, it looks like this collab is going to be a hit with Target's everyday heroes.

—Todd Plummer

Music Men

You might say that fashion week has arrived in New York with a little extra fanfare this season, what with all the musicians trumpeting at last night's preliminaries. Not that the performing artists didn't have something to celebrate themselves. At the Surface to Air shop in Soho, for starters, Theophilus London launched his new collaboration with the French-label-cum-creative-shop. It's a NASA-inspired bomber jacket, a concept London had more or less already designed in his head when he first met S2A creative director, Aldric Speer, in Paris. "A lot of artists come to us and say they want to do something but don't know what they want to do," Speer recalled. "But he had his really defined idea. He even knew the color of the zipper puller."



The S2A studio just finished a perfume campaign for Givenchy that should be out soon, and Speer reported that he has a pair of design collaborations in the works with Parisian electro talents Brodinski and Gesaffelstein. Inside the Soho shop, London rapped with Travis Scott.



Both were spotted later at Milk Studios, where Kendrick Lamar headlined the first of many drink-sloshing evenings scheduled for MADE Fashion Week. (Mini Jambox sponsored this one.) "Make some noise now, New York!" Lamar urged from his stage in the building's loading dock, and the crowd obliged. "I'm gonna feel this bass later tonight," Anndra Neen's Phoebe Stephens predicted. She insisted she was relaxed, though: She and her sister, Annette, had shown their collection earlier in the day. "Now we can enjoy the rest of the week," she sighed.



A few blocks over, at No. 8, Robin Thicke sent his Blurred Lines album into the world with an intimate performance of—well, no points for guessing that one. His partner for the evening was Treats! magazine; the racy glossy's latest issue features the resurgent R&B star on the cover, accompanied by a crew of models wearing high heels and not much else. It's no accident that the shot evokes the already infamous "Blurred Lines" video—Thicke confirmed to Style.com that he and the video's director, Diane Martel, used the magazine's openly sexy style as a "visual reference." Asked about his appreciation of the magazine, he kept things brief: "What's not to like?"

—Darrell Hartman

Looks Like He's Made It

"Michael Kors is a mensch," said Fern Mallis at this afternoon's FIT Couture Council luncheon at Lincoln Center, where the designer was honored with the Award for Artistry of Fashion. For those not in the know, mensch is a Yiddish word that basically means the best guy ever. "He is such a mensch," concurred Simon Doonan. "And he's always been the most passionate, committed designer and philanthropist. I just adore him," he added before recalling that infamous moment when, in 1991, the ceiling caved in at Kors' show in a New York loft. "Anna Wintour was picking plaster out of Suzy Menkes' hair!" laughed Doonan. "It was that show that caused me to organize fashion week [at Bryant Park]," said Mallis.



Crumbling ceilings aside, it seemed that everyone at the afternoon fete, which drew such fashion fixtures as Linda Fargo, Andrew Bolton , Iman , Alexandra Richards , and Couture Council chair Yaz Hernández, shared warm feelings about the man of the hour. Doutzen Kroes, who donned a spotted Kors frock, first met the designer during a fashion week fitting. "He made me feel very comfortable. He's a big deal, but he doesn't behave like that. And I remember he liked my tan," she said. "He has a tremendous empathy with women, and he really understands his customer," added Valerie Steele, the director of the Museum at FIT.



"I love being menschy. I'm a New York guy! A nice Jewish boy! I'm so lucky that I knew early on what I wanted to do with my life. Then, to be able to do it and do it well? I've gotta give back," said Kors, who, it should be noted, recently donated a $1 million scholarship to help FIT students.



After the likes of Iman and Chanel Iman had settled into their seats, Hilary Swank , dressed in a flirty printed Kors dress, took the stage. "He's the king of American sportswear," announced the actress, who accompanied the designer to the Met Ball in 2012. "But what resonates with me above all is Michael's genuineness…. He's real…. And, to me, that is so much more attractive than any design could ever be."



After accepting his accolade—while wearing his signature sunglasses, of course—Kors addressed the crowd, discussing everything from how far he believes sportswear has come since he began designing thirty-two years ago to his incompetence with sewing machines. Before leaving the podium, he offered, "People say to me…'When did you know you made it?' And, you know, I've always believed that the minute you think you've made it…you're done. Well, guess what? I'm not done."

—Katharine K. Zarrella

Rodeo Show

Hermès celebrated the opening of its Beverly Hills flagship last night with not one, but two celebrations. Guests were first welcomed to the newly renovated tri-level space on Rodeo Drive, which features the heritage brand's full collection, from tannery to tabletop. "The U.S. has always been very important to us. It saved us at one point and almost destroyed us at one point," said Axel Dumas , CEO of Hermès International, referring to the Great Depression. After closing its New York store in 1929, it was L.A. that welcomed the company back to the States years later. "The way we reentered the U.S. was through Los Angeles, and our first freestanding store in the U.S. was in 1972, on Rodeo Drive," he said, noting that after 41 years, they've just bought the building. "We really want to be here for the long run."



Shopping gave way to a complete sensory experience as partygoers such as Lisa Eisner and Balthazar Getty made their way to an industrial space housing custom-built artistic and digital installations at 3 Labs in Culver City—an homage of sorts to Hermès' innovation, art, and craft. While Jessica Alba posed for photos in a driving simulator on a projected Rodeo Drive, a Ginger Rogers-and-Fred Astaire-style pair danced in a converted soundstage, accompanied by a silent film. A poolroom replicated a special L.A.-themed scarf print with Hermès tiles projected onto the walls and floor and synchronized swimmers performed choreographed numbers. "It's French but still Los Angeles, with all of the film references," said stylist Petra Flannery.



The last of the destination rooms was a sunken wood-paneled library, displaying some Hermès vintage pieces owned by stars over the years, including Sammy Davis Jr.'s customized liquor case. Actress Teresa Palmer summed up the feeling of the evening: "It's glamorous, it's chic, it's incredible, and I would totally have it. Any of it."

—Alexis Brunswick

Whole Lotta Carlotta

Watch This Face

Good-Bye Summer, Hello New York Fashion Week