Paul Smith A/W 2020 Paris Fashion Week Men's

Paul Smith A/W 2020. Photography: Jason Lloyd-Evans

(Image credit: Jason Lloyd-Evans)

last updated 15 July 2022

Mood board: ‘New shapes, new fabrics and reworked prints,’ Smith said of his 50th anniversary collection. ‘I’ve softened British checks and houndstooth with Italian cloths and used exaggerated proportions to give it a dreamy feel.’ The designer is globally revered for his tailoring and print and for A/W 20 the suiting was light with a longer line on the jackets. Ties were replaced by high neck shirting with a zip at the side.

Best in show: The slightly flared trousers gave a nod to the 1970s when Smith began the label, working out of a small shop in Nottingham, which he started after meeting art students in the local Bell Inn pub. Speaking in 2008, he said: ‘they had an enormous effect on me – they opened up a world I did not know existed and probably the key thing was that the world was not just clothes but all aspects of creativity and this is what I tried to express.’ His collection forewent any romanticism, however, and instead looked ahead with long puffa jackets and trainers and floral-camo denim.

Sound bite: Smith has endured as a British design icon for half a century. ‘With it being my 50th anniversary, I’ve reflected on memorable moments from my own archive but reworked them in a modern and restrained way. I’ve revisited details from my past like raw edges, top-stitching and denim and brought them back!’ he said. Smith took an energetic bow as footage of his fifty years of finales played on a giant screen behind him.

TOPICS

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.