For some reason, there s a bit of an American preppy feeling rising in certain quarters of the English design community. Paul Smith, too, has caught a touch of the nostalgia vibe for clean, conservative, outdoorsy classics. In his hands, it was the perfect excuse to indulge his affection for putting fresh-faced girls in clothes meant for boys.
In essence, this was a collection of simple separates—seersucker shorts, navy brass-buttoned blazers, slim pants, and vivid V-neck knits—with the odd pair of Brooks Brothers–type boxers peeking out of the waistlines. Nodding to the trend for shirt-dressing, he showed crisp white cottons and borrowed-from-the-boys pajama checks. Color choices—lavender with raspberry, leaf green with beige—are always a strength in this collection, but there was a lack of Smith s characteristic prints on show. For evening—as evening as this essentially easy collection gets—he used parachute silks floating breezily away from the body. The best bit, though, was the not-quite-right English eccentricity of loafers made in slightly tattered washed silks in pretty pastels.
