The spontaneous, hand-drawn beauty of Steve O Smith’s work has to be seen to be believed. During London Fashion Week, passersby at Dover Street Market paused to marvel at the thorough perfectionism of a few pieces from his spring collection hanging on a rail. It was like looking at 3D black and white freehand life drawings captured in mid-air.
There were price tags, yes, but this was the opposite of a see-now-buy-now situation. Smith is the latest to emerge from the vanguard of young London designers making things to order, along with Michael Stewart and Richard Quinn.
The buzz around Smith exploded at the Met Ball in May, when Eddie Redmayne and his wife, Hannah Bagshawe, wore pieces he created for them from the lookbook he posted last season. “That experience really pushed my techniques, figuring out what everything should look like in 360 degrees and from every angle,” Smith said. “Then I went home to London and drew for three weeks straight.”
His second collection grew out of the graphic inspiration he gained from studying the work of Weimar Republic artist George Grosz. Immersed in the free and decadent culture of Berlin in the twenties and thirties, he started Pandora’s boxGW Pabst’s silent film that turned the provocative Louise Brooks into a wild flapper-era sensation.
What captivated Smith was “her expressiveness, vulnerability and kinetic energy,” he said. “At the time, audiences were shocked to see her movements on screen.” Dozens of quick drawings later, he transferred the sketches he liked best onto black appliqués running over calico or organza. However meticulous his technique—tiny stitches, delicate finishing—the energy of his artist’s hand radiates across everything from tailoring to menswear to the breathtaking lightness of his one-shouldered evening gown (a “gestural dress,” he called it).
Smith’s Lulu collection landed somewhere bordering on the 1920s-esque period that other designers are thinking about this season. And again, the freshness and originality couldn’t be more vibrant. Smith heads to Paris to take orders at a showroom he has rented to show his collection to customers. “It’s really interesting and rewarding to talk to people who have the patience to order and wait,” Smith said. “That’s how I want to work: building a modern studio.”