Paul Smith A/W 2019 Paris Fashion Week Men's

Three people posing for a picture wearing hats, against a colourful backdrop — Paul Smith A/W 2019. Photography: Jason Lloyd-Evans

(Image credit: Jason Lloyd-Evans)

Mood board: Smith opened his own shop at 6 Byard Lane in Nottingham after six years working for a friend in the city’s first boutique. In a 12-foot-square back room, down a small passageway behind a moneylender’s office, Smith sought to sell clothes and things that were not available anywhere outside of London, alongside one-off pieces bearing his name, designed and made by his future wife, Pauline. His latest collection referenced this simpler time – when textiles and ideas were clashed together and the anarchy of DIY, blue-blooded style was revered the world over.

Best in show: This urgency of self-expression mixed with archetypes of Britishness. Remixed English eccentricity was key for A/W 2019 as the label’s sartorial heritage was given a new-punk lean. An unfussy, unfurled elegance, punk met regal cavalry shapes and typically British textiles. Bondage trousers in houndstooth. Leather buckles sat high at the waist on Crombie coats. Painterly florals merged with cut and paste graphics and animal prints. Riding-inspired pieces were paired with skinny trousers and biker boots. Smith’s classic, time-honed tailoring was rebooted.

Sound bite: ‘The collection is a celebration of my love of independence, individuality and self-expression,’ Smith said. When he began his now globally renowned brand in the late 1960s, he charmed expert tailors in his hometown into making two-piece suits from pairs of curtains and raffish shirts out of floral dress fabrics. ‘That was how I expressed myself! This collection celebrates self-expression in all of its different guises.’

A Group of models in a row wearing colourful clothing pose for a picture against an orange background with dim lighting

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London based writer Dal Chodha is editor-in-chief of Archivist Addendum — a publishing project that explores the gap between fashion editorial and academe. He writes for various international titles and journals on fashion, art and culture and is a contributing editor at Wallpaper*. Chodha has been working in academic institutions for more than a decade and is Stage 1 Leader of the BA Fashion Communication and Promotion course at Central Saint Martins. In 2020 he published his first book SHOW NOTES, an original hybrid of journalism, poetry and provocation.