AW 09-10 trend report: Paul Smith press day




If you’re a fan of the Paul Smith ethos – attention to detail, witty touches, clever merchandising, you’d have enjoyed the Paul Smith AW09 press day. The highlights:

1) Unisex plaid raw-edges scarves

2) My favourite khaki-and-red colour combination

3) Details: Epaulettes, piping, plastic chain necklaces




4) Bags: Plastic chain handles, florals, flat suede handbags



5) Vintage chairs – these are French 1040s garden chairs, £400 for a pair

6) Flask – if you can’t afford a vintage Hermes flask, get this map one instead

As you’d expect, the styling of the venue and outfits were spot on. I loved the Paul Smith vintage-look cameras, dapper bow-ties and necklaces as epaulettes. And don’t miss the gilt chairs with Paul Smith-print seat pads. When you’re attending twenty-odd press shows a day for the best part of a month, you need things to stand out in order to remember them. Otherwise, however beautiful the individual pieces, all the statement shoulders, print dresses and crazy-heeled shoes start merging into one. By making the press day experience a unique one, the collection as a whole is more likely to stand out.








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Earl Grey and Architecture: inside the Le Corbusier Cabanon



Le Corbusier Cabanon RIBA 2009

To say Thursday was a whirlwind of activity would be an understatement of preposterous proportions. As well as press days, the Alexandra Shulman FBC talk, a whizz across town to a digital lab and an ICA charity gala dinner, I somehow managed to cram in tea at the RIBA.

The Royal Institute of British Architects is a building I have passed dozens of times but never had time to venture inside. Big mistake. Aside from its elegant interior and charming cafe (where we had tea and brownies surrounded by textbook architects complete with Mac laptops and Moleskine notebooks) we browsed the Le Corbusier exhibits which comprised various classic chairs, tables and sofas from the Cassina I Maestri collection.

On the first floor was a reconstruction of the famous Le Corbusier Cabanon. The architect designed and built this sexy little hut in 1952 as a holiday home for him and his wife Yvonne in Cap-Martin. The outside is pretty basic and anonymous while the interior is widely recognised as a superb example of micro architecture. (Did I impress you with my knowledge there? Don’t be fooled, I totally read that in the notes. However, I’m determined to sneak the phrase ‘micro architecture’ into everyday speech…)

After donning the comedy showercap-chic shoe covers, we explored inside the Le Corbusier Cabanon and took a few sneaky snaps. You would never think to look at this now, that it was designed over half a century ago. All its nifty nooks and crannies and built-in storage ideas are now commonplace in day-to-day living but were the height of innovation 50 years ago. The building itself is not that big (15 square metres) but you really get a sense of space and function. This Le Corbusier mini-exhibition is on until 28th April so if you like a bit of culture with your elevenses, I highly recommend the RIBA (and the bookshop is rather tasty too).





Le Corbusier Cabanon

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Blow PR – the hit factory



Last week I managed to get a final look at Blow PR‘s SS09 collections before they get bagged up and sent back to make room for the new stuff.

Blow has become known as the go-to PR for nurturing fresh talent and as well as promoting the now-established Basso & Brooke, Ashish and Manish Arora since their early days, also looks after some of London’s most promising bubbling-under names. Touring the showroom is like entering a ‘what’s cutting edge now’ exhibition. Elaborate samples are hung around the place as casually as a loveworn denim jacket and there’s a little story behind each piece or designer. The lone pair of work-of-art shoes with exquisite carved heels? Why, those are the Raouda Assaf for Basso & Brookes that garnered more column inches than Jourdan Dunn at the SS09 shows. The funfair-fabulous frock hanging like an exotic lantern? A Manish Arora special of course. A sequin jacket with bunch-of-banana-shaped shoulders? A highlight from the Jo-Jo & Malou collection – fun, fun, fun! I also loved the Smiley bags by Disaya and the big-as-a-house plastic party dresses by Craig Laurence – you could literally wrap yourself up like a present!





I was somewhat surprised to see a rail laden with rather elegant tailored trousers and silk blouses  in sedate office-friendly colours (below). Was it someone’s drycleaning? No, it was the collection of Delia Covezzi – “Something commercial for us that we’re trying out. What do you think of it…?” (I think it bridges the gap between commercial and creative very well – clearly the bug for new designers to create wearable collections yet with strong, unique handwriting is catching on.)

Alongside the grown-up tailoring and statement pieces, Blow also looks after a number of streetwear labels including Nobody jeans who are celebrating their 10th anniversary this year with a jeanius genius bespoke idea that I can’t reveal quite yet. My favourite collection of all however was Little Shilpa, the work of Mumbai-based designer-slash-stylist Shilpa Chavan who rummages around for found trinkets and reimagines them as beautiful romantic accessories – I’m sorry but how lovely are her pin-on epaulettes?

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