Paul Smith is very much on his own turf this season. A cheerful English gent, he s always secretly been enamored of well-brought-up girls, flower gardens, and a bit of cheeky fun. At the beginning of his show, Lily Cole—the 16-year-old redheaded London schoolgirl—strode out in a little blue-and-white Liberty print cotton trench, the very embodiment of those very British ideas. Cole was followed by a lineup of little pastel tweed jackets with contrast linings, seed-packet floral prints, and cardigans. One dress looked as if it had a fifties apron incorporated into it—perhaps for making tea to take out onto the extensive lawn Mr. Smith had laid out for the occasion.
Couldn t be perkier or more of the moment, of course. At a time when the entire fashion world is playing with ideas of eccentricity and ladylike virtues, Smith is well within his fashion comfort zone, though he hasn t lost his soft spot for tomboys. His trim little pantsuits with African-print pork-pie hats looked just spiffy. Come the evening, though, this collection was never quite sure where to go. Thigh-slit variations on cheongsams didn t really do it, but never mind. Smith s designs are more about innocent laughter on a sunny afternoon, and that s how it should be.
