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Show Report

Show Report: Paul Smith S/S 16 Menswear

by Lou Stoppard on 29 June 2015

Lou Stoppard reports on the Paul Smith S/S 16 menswear show.

Lou Stoppard reports on the Paul Smith S/S 16 menswear show.

Never has a show been so in step with its soundtrack as Paul Smith S/S 16. As the music moved from classic to classic, speedily jumping from The Kinks’ You Really Got Me to The White Stripes’ Seven Nation Army, mixing up different beats, the collection sped us through a variety of different suit styles, mashing-up styles, clashing patterns across broken suits and moving effortlessly from baggy and retro to skinny and sharp. No two styles were the same - it was a lesson in the possibilities of tailoring.

Paul Smith’s collections have been getting stronger over the last few seasons, but Smith’s decision to forgo a conservative presentation of a rounded wardrobe proposition - knits, bombers, coats, shorts and so on - smacks of a designer that still knows his way around a good strong edited idea. And who better to show a collection full of suits than Paul Smith, the go-to man amongst monied guys for some nice tailoring? But the way men wear suits has changed a lot since Smith opened up his first shop in Nottingham - they’re now no longer essential office-wear, they’re often worn mixed with something casual (jackets with shorts or sporty trousers and trainers, or tailored bottoms with a sweater) and they’re increasingly less of a wardrobe staple and more of a conscious ‘fashion’ buy. Smith nodded to the suit’s different guises, and his different audiences, by showing something for everyone. One suit was navy, conservative and worn with a tie and a leather bag perfect for a laptop or some papers; all ideal for Smith’s city boy fan base. One grey jacket came patterned with a retro double-breast cut. It was styled with some leather trousers and a band t-shirt, perfect for vintage-lovers and the style-conscious boys who save up for Smith. It’s apt that some pieces had ants crawling on them, either as little silver brooches or directly as a print. Ants in your pants - a good emblem for an excitable collection that felt energetic, urgent and full of movement, chops and changes.

The show notes talked of an ‘independent mind’, but really this collection was more instep with fashion’s pulse than Smith has been for a while. That’s not to say Smith is being a sheep, more that he is observing what’s going on around him and responding to it. When so many other designer of his age and standing are just sleepwalking their way into irrelevance, showing the same one trick time and time again, it’s refreshing that Smith’s still keen to mix things up, whether that’s a soundtrack or a suit.

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