Minxing Men at Phillip Lim’s Spring/Summer 2012 Menswear Show

Phillip Lim’s Spring/Summer 2012 collection for men was introduced on June 25, 2011 and featured a collection inspired by street cred and skateboard style. Aptly located in a funky garage in Paris, the models not only displayed Lim’s cool yet luxurious styles, but did so while sporting Minx nails on their fingertips.

Minx co-founders Dawn Lynch-Goodwin and Janice Jordan were delighted with the designer’s decision to use Minx on all 29 of the male models for his show. “Since the launch of Minx, we’ve seen so many men go from not caring about their hands to become Minx devotees,” says Dawn, “but this is the first time that Minx has been incorporated in a menswear collection and we couldn’t be more pleased.”

The lead nail stylist for the show, Brenda Abrial, was contacted by Phillip Lim’s agent who told her that the designer would be doing a menswear presentation using silver nails. “I narrowed down the options to silver nail polish, dark blue polish, and silver Minx,” said Brenda, “and I did a test on Mr. Lim himself after he saw the my own scraped polish and liked the look. In the end, nothing compared with the chrome look of Minx and it was the hands-down choice.”

Brenda then contacted Philippe Ardouin, the local Minx representative whom she had met a couple of years prior during fashion week, and the two quickly pulled together a team of nail stylists for the show.

To create a rugged street look, Brenda’s team applied MinxLusion on the models, scrubbing and roughening the edges to look as if they had been skateboarding down the street with fingertips scraping over the pavement. “I noticed Philip had kept his Minx on for the show, and at the end of the presentation, almost all the male models wanted to keep their Minx too,” said Brenda. “That is fabulous news in the male market!”

With Steven Tyler wearing Minx on American Idol and Vanilla Ice displaying his lucky Minx throughout his recent “Dancing on Ice” foray, more and more men are finding the nail fashion hard to resist, especially when there are no worries about drying time or smudging. “I always wear at least one or two metallic Minx accents on my fingers,” said Philippe Ardouin, who also wore Minx during the show. “So many people stop to ask me about it – I love the attention!”

© Philippe Ardouin 2011 - P. LIM MEN's SS 2012

Backstage © Philippe Ardouin 2011 - P. LIM MEN's SS 2012

Philip-Lim-Between-Models © Philippe Ardouin 2011 - P. LIM MEN's SS 2012

© Philippe Ardouin 2011 - P. LIM MEN's SS 2012

© Philippe Ardouin 2011 - P. LIM MEN's SS 2012

Philip Lim with Brenda's Team photo by Philippe Ardouin