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On the cusp of haute couture week, Sir Paul Smith showed his AW13 collection at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris. A collection, which – for all its houndstooth and general Englishness – wasn’t far off the strict couture rules of La Chambre Syndicale. “What we’ve been trying to do with this collection is to put a lot more emphasis on handmade details, on luxury fabrics,” Paul told i-D after the show. “It’s interesting at the moment, with a difficult financial situation around the world, a lot of people either want very reasonable or very, very high luxury. One or the other. And I think if they want to spend their money, they want to have something that really has got a strong point of view.” It was a philosophy expressed in opulent materials such as kit mohair, alpaca, cashmere and silk mixes, and in hand-stitched detailing on the otherwise easy cuts, which characterised a pristine collection, the colour features of which gave it an intrinsically optimistic character. Variations on houndstooth – for instance toned-down on a classic double-breasted coat, or maximised in black and khaki on a jumper – flew the flag of the season’s Great British elements, and in a menswear season packed with them (most editors still see tartan when they close their eyes) it was only appropriate that an actual Brit closed the circus and showed them how it’s done. An imperial knight, at that.
Text: Anders Christian Madsen
Photography: Mitchell Sams
