Paul Smith Rocks, But Does He Roll? - click for photos
Written by Timothy Hagy
PARIS, July 4 - Guests arriving for the Paul Smith show on Sunday afternoon
were greeted by Handelian strains sung over the soundtrack by a choir of
men and boys. Towering piles of very dusty looking books framed the runway
in the court of the Ecole des Beaux Arts.
Displaying quintessentially British charm, Paul Smith chatted before
the show. "The collections used to be called classic with
a twist," he said. "Simple clothing with a little surprise. Now
it's about color and print - a rock and roll collection. Men have grown
more confident in the last 10 years or so."
Well, if the pre-show ambiance might have given a stuffy impression, that
picture of British conservatism which manifests itself in pictures of the
Royal Family, where even teenage princes are made to look old and drawn
in their Savile Row suits: watch out!
To a grinding rock soundtrack out the boys came, filtering through the library
wall and onto the pulsing catwalk. With rings on every finger, shirts strewn
with flowers, scarves flowing and chains dangling, they laid to rest any
preconceived notion of dryness, and instead headed straight for a 60s-era
love in. By the time the floral brocades, which nearly resembled an 16th
century tapestry, were summarily eclipsed by a finale of hotly colored print
shirts, Paul Smith had more than proved that he could produce pieces decidedly
un-Wills.
But does classical tailoring necessarily have to be transformed into sparkly
Elvis belts and glittering guitar strap sacks just to give it a facelift?
Well, not entirely so. The exquisite cut of the blazers, be that in Prince
of Wales check, or the flower power jackets with pseudo-hippie motifs (some
in satin) betrayed that silly notion.
The thing is that the contrasting prints and textures all worked, much in
the sense of Christian Lacroix, who also draws inspiration from London in
the 60s. The ideas just got a bit overheated.
Perhaps it might have been wiser to remember an adage steeped in tradition:
less is more. Paul Smith is far too brilliant a designer to rock, but not
roll.
Paul Smith Rocks, But Does He Roll? - click for photos
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