In the Details

3.1 Philip Lim: As usual, near perfection. I'm used to falling for his downtown-cool looks, precise with modern cuts and materials. What hooked me this season was the footwear.

I love the little white slip-ons Lim paired with an all-black getup for fall. They remind me of the first pair of shoes I bought with my New York life in mind. A month out from moving to the city, I found a pair of slightly metallic, marshmallow-soled oxfords in Virginia. That first spring and I wore them with everything: silk skirts, baggy jeans, shorts while bike riding. I remember on the first run of a series for TimeOut, interviewing the French owner of a gallery and store in Boerum Hill, called The Invisible Dog, and feeling perfectly dressed, like a character in the life story I'd always wanted to live. I wore the white shoes with a black top and a deep scooping back, a black skirt, trench coat, and colorful thread belt wrapped around my wrist my mother had gotten in Nepal decades earlier. In the showroom, there was gorgeous handmade jewelry that glittered in the soft lighting, the warm spring night breezing through the open door into the immense first floor. Lucien draped one of the necklaces around my neck and I stared back at the picture in the mirror.

How beautiful the dressings we find to decorate life.