For this season's collection, Paul Smith found inspiration in Frank Zappa's daughter Moon Unit (read this). Like, okay, I mean, like... Valley girl, seriously ? Toooh-tally tubular ! A huge image of a full moon was the backdrop for the catwalk. Sir Paul Smith had been reflecting on the appealingly random qualities of her father music when it occurred to him what a splendidly visual thing a full moon was, which is a random thought in itself. And thus the new Paul Smith collection came into being, donned by an appropriately random model casting. If the designer's collections tend to reflect way stations in his own autobiography, you could maybe pin this one down to the post-hippie, pre-glam moment when the sixties met the seventies. It was the era of 'Space Oddity', so Paul Smith opened with a silvery quilted parka, ersatz astronautica. He also glazed the leather of a blouson with a spacey sheen. But the suggestion of spaciness soon gave way to a 'Withnail and I' baggy cardie vibe, with what felt like haphazard layers of jackets, shirts, and knitwear. "Vintage mixed with luxury" was Smith's own label for the look. It embraced the kind of shaggy furs that festivalgoers might have worn at the earliest Glastonbury gatherings, baggy demob pants, speckled thrift-shop tweeds, and oversize granddad coats. But there were also pieces that felt much more contemporary, like a black mohair cardigan jacket, or a quilted parka with a bold monochrome animal print.
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