Delving into the rich world of arthouse cinema, Paul Smith takes inspiration for the women’s AW22 collection from avant-garde, surrealist and New Wave films, and the visionary directors who revolutionised aesthetic techniques.
Incorporating lavish textures, a cinematic palette and otherworldly photo prints, the collection presents a self-assured style for the Paul Smith woman.
Silhouettes have been redefined this season and are overwhelmingly feminine, with clever panelling, seaming, splicing, drapery and colour-blocking used to create a lean, clean and altogether sophisticated look.
Reflecting our renewed desire to dress up again, occasion-wear becomes a bold statement of individuality with luxurious fabrics cut on the bias and striking print and colourways incorporated into figure-hugging lines.
While the Paul Smith woman may once have borrowed her boyfriend’s suit jacket, the AW22 tailoring is cut to flatter the form, with defined shoulders and a soft construction through the torso to create an elegant drape. Blazers and overcoats feature gentle waist shaping and subtly curved lapels to accentuate the natural lines of the body.
New trouser shapes are introduced for the season to complement the feminine slim-fit and tailored silhouette, including a subtle, high-waisted kick flare and 1990s-inpired straight-leg.
Colour, as is always the case with Paul Smith collections, is paramount, with vivid blues, reds and greens recalling hyper-saturated productions and the advent of technicolour cinema while icy blues nod to early days of film.
The distinctive Signature stripe is spliced into panelling on cycling inspired jersey tops and dresses and found elsewhere throughout the collection, marrying sportswear themes with more formal codes.
Prints also feature heavily. Mirroring the graphic theme of the men’s collection, the Zig-Zag print appears on an intarsia-knit mohair sweater and as a tonal patterned jacquard velvet. The Solar Floral print – a swirling, psychedelic pattern – sits alongside an elevated Moonlit Palm Floral seen on plush velvet, and hyper-saturated ditsy, 1990s-inspired Twilight Floral.
