Margaret Howell's invitation featured an image of what looked like aged flagstones. It was actually a photo of the wooden floorboards in her London shop. Either way, enduring authenticity was the takeaway, which is just right for Howell. Her clothes age well, probably because there's already a hint of history in a piece like the bib-fronted shirt she showed here. And she was very taken with the kerchief she was wearing, something she'd resurrected from the eighties and reintroduced for Spring 2013.
Like her friend Bruce Weber (who shot her first ad campaigns way back when), Howell has a formula that doesn't tire, which is how collections that change almost imperceptibly year on year can hold the interest so. The vision of an ideal, ordered world that they offer is quite seductive. Nothing jars. Here, for instance, ties matched shirts, and tones of blue and gray shaded soothingly together.
However, change there was. "Style has to feel right for now," said Howell after the show. For Spring, "now" meant narrower, slightly cropped pants and a leaner torso. But it was a chambray parka that felt the right-est, exactly the kind of item—where form intelligently follows function—that keeps 'em coming back for more.
