SMITH-WYKES Fall/Winter 2014 Lookbook

For Fall/Winter 2014 SMITH-WYKES drew inspiration from Norman Wilkinson’s program of Razzle Dazzle maritime camouflage, a boldly modernist take on disruptive pattern design as painted onto warships during the early 1900’s. Differing from classic camouflage, this pattern was not created to hide or cloak an object, but rather to break-up accepted forms and to distort outlines and boundaries, thereby ‘dazzling’ the viewer.

The SMITH-WYKES Fall/Winter 2014 collection plays with this idea of subtlety of stealth and the unexpected. Surprising new shifts in silhouette explore oversized shapes, new cropped lengths, tucking and volume. Overcoats, cabans and field jackets are worn large with rounded shoulders and tapered hems. Luxury sweaters have new volume and form and see the welcome return of the sailor’s roll neck collar. Overall, strong graphic elements punctuate the collection in both print and jacquards on shirts and jersey, but it is the new and unconventional placements that also break up the garments in unexpected ways.

As always, fabrications are refined and luxurious. Lightly washed 100% wool flannel and charcoal tweeded wool cashmere are used in suits, coats and shorts for the tailored end. A heavy rough-hewn cotton twill anchors the workwear side, both plain and printed in mechanics jackets and flat fronted trousers. As layering pieces, pure white cotton and micro jacquard shirtings have a new collar shape, one that is lengthened with softened points.

Research was never able to show whether Norman Wilkinson’s Razzle Dazzle prints were ever truly effective in confusing the enemy guns. But the crews of the painted ships demonstrated such marked increases in confidence and morale that the camouflage program was continued for many years to follow. – a welcome reminder of the psychological over the merely practical.