Backstage at the École des Beaux-Artes—as fitting a venue for a Paul Smith show as one can imagine—the designer looped his finger into the waist of his emerald-silk-lined red-on-green-check suit and explained this was a simultaneous going back and forward. Many of the fabrics in this, Smith’s first co-ed show, were similar to those he used at his first ever—held in a hotel room here in Paris in 1976. “Back then, though, the fabrics would have been twice the weight of what they are today,” Smith said.
Tailoring for both men and women took center stage. The women’s jackets were hemmed lower and cut wider, and were a touch lusher in their crisscross or feather-embossed jacquards than the men’s, but only a touch. On occasion, this veteran (whose first-ever shop was called Vetements de Paul Smith) added a collared track pant, or a soft shearling, or a rainbow grosgrain parka to the mix to present a contextual relevance. The women’s looks included feather and paisley print silks, plus silk shorts cut low over check pants cut high. The animals that frolicked here and there were culled from a well-thumbed 19th-century tome, The Instructive Picture Book, that presented exotic animals to closeted Britons. Pad stitched jackets—“to allow the curl of the lapel”—were among the tricks in this show Smith said he’d first learned at night school and from his Royal College-educated wife, muse, and constantly credited beloved, Pauline.
He observed: “A fashion show is 13 minutes of showing you guys that we are still coming up with ideas and showing the buyers that they can pay the rent. If you dissect all these, you have a great pair of trousers, a great belt, or great shoes . . . there are 15 outfits for women and 20 outfits for men here; come into my showroom and you will see a thousand pieces.” This was the piece of Smith he felt like showing this season.
