A huge image of a full moon was the backdrop for Paul Smith s catwalk. Its inspiration was Moon Unit Zappa. Seriously! Smith had been reflecting on the appealingly random qualities of her father Frank s music when it occurred to him what a splendidly visual thing a full moon was, which is a random thought in itself. And thus the new Paul Smith collection came into being.
If the designer s collections tend to reflect way stations in his own autobiography, you could maybe pin this one down to the post-hippie, pre-glam moment when the sixties met the seventies. It was the era of "Space Oddity," so Smith opened with a silvery quilted parka, ersatz astronautica. He also glazed the leather of a blouson with a spacey sheen. But the suggestion of spaciness soon gave way to a Withnail and I baggy cardie vibe, with what felt like haphazard layers of jackets, shirts, and knitwear.
"Vintage mixed with luxury" was Smith s own label for the look. It embraced the kind of shaggy furs that festivalgoers might have worn at the earliest Glastonbury gatherings, baggy demob pants, speckled thrift-shop tweeds, and oversize granddad coats. But there were also pieces that felt much more contemporary, like a black mohair cardigan jacket, or a quilted parka with a bold monochrome animal print. Kudos to an appropriately random model casting, BTW.
