Who

The designer of 3.1, Phillip Lim makes prim but flirty womenswear and subtly on-trend menswear.

Backstory

The Thai-born son of Chinese immigrants—his father was a professional poker player, his mother a seamstress—Lim had originally planned to go into business, but an epiphany during accounting class at Cal-State Long Beach compelled him to head over to the home economics department to enroll in sewing and pattern-making classes. A stint in Paris as an assistant at Katayone Adeli convinced him of his future career, much to the horror of his mother: "I think her heart was broken," he said. Lim soon moved to L.A. and co-founded the label Development, which attracted a cult following. In 2004, Lim arrived in New York and, with business partner and friend Wen Zhou, launched his own line, naming it 3.1 because they were both 31 at the time. Lim's first collection sold to Barneys and Fred Segal in 2005 and he earned a CFDA nomination the following year.

Of note

Lim's concept is fairly simple: He sells clothes that aren't too wild and aren't too plain, for prices that aren't too expensive and aren't too cheap. His minimalist dresses sell for $300 to $600 in close to 300 stores across the U.S., including a new Phillip Lim flagship store on Mercer Street in SoHo. And his popularity continues to grow. In its first six months, his label generated $2.8 million in sales; within two years, the figure had climbed to $30 million. But Lim has been busy outside of 3.1, too. He designed a capsule collection for Uniqlo in May 2007 and has plans to release a new sandal collection for Birkenstock in spring 2008.

Drama

Lim and his former colleagues have both admitted that his exit as head of Development was not a smooth one, personally or financially—although both sides are vague on the details. The current owner of Development would only tell the Post that "Phillip knows the truth."

Personal

Lim lives in Chelsea with his dog, Oliver.