Yahoo Lifestyle EXCLUSIVE: Paul Smith, Barbour Say ‘Moo’ With Collaboration Inspired by Country and City Life
PARIS — Paul Smith has teamed with Barbour on a very British collection that’s just as suited to country fairs as it is to city streets.
Called Paul Smith Loves Barbour, the 23-piece collection features reimagined versions of Barbour’s signature waxed jackets, alongside knitwear, accessories and T-shirts. It will be released in October.
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The styles were inspired by livestock competitions and farm shows — and have a colorful Smith twist, including a recurring Friesian cow motif.
The Bedale jacket — Barbour’s most famous design — is at the core of the collaboration, and comes in a patchwork stripe for men and women, as well as color-blocked versions in a number of Smith-y shades including inky blue, purple and fire-engine red.
The collection also includes Smith’s take on Barbour’s longer Border coat, and the shorter Transport jacket. There is a snap-in liner vest composed of contrasting Paul Smith shirt patterns. The Friesian cow wanders all over the collection, appearing both as a repeating and a placement print.
“It’s heifer so nice,” said Smith, as he modeled one jacket with a Friesian cow on the lining. During a walk-through, he said the collection also features bird prints, and a vintage label that he designed for Barbour years ago.
There is chunky knitwear made from speckled yarns, rain boots, waxed cotton bucket hats, bags and detachable hoods.
Barbour’s enamel pin badges also feature — but with a Paul Smith twist. There are green parrots, rosettes — and the cow — which can be affixed to a hat or jacket collar.
Ian Bergin, director of menswear at Barbour, said, “The phrase ‘classic with a twist’ has long been attributed to Paul Smith, and we’ve really led with this theme throughout the design process.”
“The collection takes cues from our classic styles, but amps them up with fun — color, print and a sense of humor — and this makes it feel like a really organic collaboration between the two brands. On a personal note, I worked with Sir Paul Smith for a number of years, so seeing this collaboration come to life feels very full circle,” he said.
Smith is no stranger to collaborations with his fellow Brits.
Two years ago, he worked with Mulberry, creating a series of unisex totes and crossbody bags which also made their debut on Smith’s Paris runway.
The two companies reworked Mulberry’s classic messenger bag, the Antony, using Smith’s signature stripe webbing straps, colorblocking and Shadow Stripe embossing.
Each style was made in the U.K. at Mulberry’s carbon-neutral factories in Somerset, with leather sourced from Gold Standard tanneries certified by the Leather Working Group.
Smith is also a nature-lover. Last month, his Christmas tree for Claridge’s hotel featured 100 bespoke bird boxes, all of which had a playful Smith twist, including roofs decorated in playing cards, postage stamps and dice.
Smith worked with the British architect Nik Ramage, who made a series of mechanical birdhouses, and with the design studio Studiomama, which has created a series of wooden “Off Cut Creatures” — little animals — to sit around the base of the tree.
All 100 bird boxes, and the Off Cut creatures, are selling at Smith’s Albemarle Street store, with a portion of proceeds going to charity.
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