Patrick McDowell really knows their client. It’s apparent from the chocolate truffles left on seats at the show, the consistent use of vintage silk and viscose and the recurrence of voluminous skirts and cinched-in waists. McDowell is focused on the type of woman who already owns all the status signifier pieces and really wants to stand out. McDowell also makes a point of sending personal notes, which can go a long way with clients and press alike.
Yet this season, during a preview, McDowell admitted to being slightly nervous about a shift in their way of working. While still a collection of dressier pieces (there’s never anything casual about McDowell’s work), this one felt a lot more wearable—the waists of the slinky silk floor-length gowns had dropped, embellishments had been stripped back and there was even a jumpsuit (plum, in wool viscose twill).
The jumpsuit served as the starting reference to George Platt Lynes, the American fashion photographer of the 1930s and ’40s, who served as the inspiration for the collection. Platt Lynes wore baggy workman jumpsuits while capturing his subjects—fashion models in the day, and New York’s artistic and queer community at night. Besides the clothes, an homage to those photographs was the semi-nude Adonis lounging on a bed of rocks and moss that had been set up in the middle of the show space while the models walked.
McDowell tends to look to that time period for inspiration—last season’s collection was centered on his grandmother; the season before on dancer Marie Rambert. (Today’s show was held in the South Bank studios of the Rambert Dance Company.) “Clothes from that time are beautifully made—they seem very thought-through and substantial. When you look at pieces in the V&A archives for example, they are all intact,” said the designer.
And so a 25-look edit of well-cut clothes strolled idly by in that dance studio. They came in silk crepe and silk damask, cotton and wool viscose, and in hues of black, white, pink and plum. There were two floral prints made from photographs of flowers McDowell’s team took, that appeared on slinky floor-length gowns and two-pieces with tailored, voluminous skirts.
McDowell is proving to be a maturing designer and a savvy business person. Judging from the presence at the show of buyers from stores that don’t yet carry Patrick McDowell, there’s no reason to be nervous.
