INTERVIEW WITH ADAM LIPPES @ 20TWELVE MEMPHIS

Adam Lippes is the epitome of style - his life, his taste, his essence. When he speaks, you immediately get a sense of his love for luxury and travel. His pieces have been featured everywhere and on everyone. He has reinvented himself multiple times, going from investment banker to Ralph Lauren to design at Oscar de la Renta. After leaving Oscar he started his own line, sold it, and took the leap to begin his current luxury line. His designs are cool, retro, sexy and drape perfectly, and all his pieces have a way of standing on their own. This past November, I had the incredible honor of interviewing Adam while he was in town for an exclusive dinner and trunk show at 20twelve. Without further ado, here is what Adam had to say. 

Ali: When did you know you wanted to be a designer?

Adam: My mother was an interior designer and I always wanted to be a designer but it was never something I thought I could do or should do. So it really steams back to a really young age and my fascination with clothes - style, really.

Ali: I saw you moved to Oscar de la Renta with the store manager of Ralph Lauren. How did you get into design at Oscar de la Renta?

Adam: It was really a very fortunate chain of events in meeting Oscar and starting to explore the world of fashion, not just design but fashion, and him allowing me to grow up there and learn on the job - which is how he learned fashion, he wasn’t trained as a fashion designer. I started designing stores for him very quickly. He was opening a store in Paris while I had been working there for six months as an assistant, and I was like, I could do this, so I designed a concept and I presented it to him and he said go do it. And that led to a lot of other stores, and then marketing, public relations, licensing, and design all sort of came. 

Ali: What is your favorite type of piece to design?

Adam: I like to design everything. I really like the entire look so it’s not just about the piece, it’s about the look. Depends on the season, it’s like the change of seasons. By the time I’m done with fall I’m bored with coats, and then I’m excited for party dresses, and when I’m done doing little dresses I’m looking forward to coats again. Obviously for winter and fall collections there’s more depth, so there’s more to do. 

Ali: What is your favorite thing about the design process?

Adam: The end result. We have a couple of days where we work with a stylist - she’s probably my harshest critic as well, I’ve worked with her for a long time. She’s super well known in the industry and she comes in and puts things together no matter how we’ve sketched the looks - because all the looks are sketched on the board - that’s not how she’s going to show it, we just have (to have) our basis covered. And then when I see her do it in a different way, and then I see customers put things together in a different way, it’s always really exciting. 

Ali: Who is your biggest influencer and/or style icon?

Adam: My mom had an incredible sense of style so I still go back to her chic little beaten jeans and t-shirt and (she) looked like a million bucks. My mom had a real sense of style. She looked like a million bucks when she was in a t-shirt - a crisp white t-shirt and a pair of jeans, and Ralph Lauren flats and it was just that really elegant, American sportswear way of living.

Ali: You have reinvented yourself quite a few times. What has given you the courage to do that and how would you encourage other people to be able to take that leap?

Adam:  I went from an investment banker to working at Ralph Lauren - I knew i wasn’t going to be happy in banking. When I left Oscar to do my own business that was scary because I was (a) creative director there, I was a partner, I was in the womb of this major fashion designer but I always wanted to do my own thing so I had no choice. When I left my own business I wasn’t happy, I was like, if this is my life if this is what I have to give to the world, I don’t want to do this. So doing it again, launching now in designer - which we did five years ago, it’s a bit crazy. I think as you get older you make more conservative decisions than when you’re younger so that gave me pause, like, do I really want to do this? I could do something else and semi retire, etc. The people who I listen to were like, “If you retire now and go buy a hotel in brazil, live on the beach, wouldn’t you be so bored?” I’d left my brand in December and by February when the shows were happening, I was living in my country house reading the NY Time reviews (I got) a little crazy. It was still in my blood. But this is it. 

Ali: This is the epitome though, it’s incredible. Your pieces truly drape perfectly. I have dressed so many women in your pieces and they’re just perfect. 

Adam: We really pride ourselves on the fabric and the fit and style because we’re not doing a shape like that, so it has to stand on its own. I think being older, I was able to take what I learned at Ralph Lauren, which in 1995 when I was there Ralph Lauren was sort of the Hermes of America. The women would walk in there and you couldn’t make a mistake. You might not win a fashion award but you couldn’t make a mistake. Where at Oscar you could win a fashion award or you could make a huge mistake. Blend both - the ease of Ralph Lauren and the style of Oscar and make it a little bit easier, then I thought maybe that’s really what I wanted to say. 

*The Adam Lippes collection can be purchased at 20twelve in Memphis or at 20twelve.com

*All photos by Fomoloop Photography