Looking Back: Phillip Lim Event and My Journey To Now

The first Phillip Lim event I went to marked a transformational time in my family’s life. It was November 2017. Having sold our second home in Tahoe that past January, we found ourselves free to explore new and familiar places we hadn’t visited in some time. When friends invited us up to Napa Valley to attend a Phillip Lim trunk show, we said “Why not?!” During this quick trip of less than 36 hours, my husband and I enjoyed the company of good friends, met new ones with whom we instantly connected and perhaps most dramatically, decided to buy a place of our own in St. Helena.

Coming on two years later, our beloved St. Helena home is fully furnished, our local Napa community continues to grow and our relationship to 3.1 Phillip Lim—the brand and its people— has deepened. (So has the assortment of his clothing and accessories in my closet!) Through these personal connections and my work as a wardrobe stylist, we were privileged to attend a dinner in celebration of Phillip’s new cookbook, More Than Our Bellies. Dining on dishes inspired by Lim family recipes and exquisitely prepared by Michelin-starred chef Pim Techamuanvivit of Kin Khao in San Francisco, I found myself reflecting on the path that literally and figuratively brought me to my seat at the table, starting with that spontaneous trip to St. Helena that turned us from invited guests into homeowners and converted us from observers of Phillip Lim’s fashion brand to ardent patrons of his craft, ethos and vision. Building on Phillip’s belief that we are responsible for making our journeys our own, I am humbly reminded that while we may chart life’s various journeys, it is the network of people and experiences we cultivate and intertwine along the way that define us and move us forward to our next juncture.

Read more about the Phillip Lim event in Women’s Wear Daily where I am quoted talking about the meaning of a personal connection and true style.

Jessica DodsonMay 30, 2019