They say three is a trend, but sometimes two will do just fine. BMX became the unpredicted emerging theme to come out of the London men’s shows, at least on Monday morning, when both Paul Smith and Jimmy Choo staged elaborate BMX presentations. Sir Paul, a fervent cyclist himself, took out Hauser and Wirth for his second instalment of A Suit to Travel In, the anti-crease tailoring concept he introduced last season.
“I’ve been cycling since I was 12, and so this presentation today is a really good way to actually indulge myself in enjoying seeing cyclists, but also showing the suit off,” he said after some nerve-wracking acrobatics that involved designer scaffolding and two handsome young cyclists in suits. “The key point about the suit – apart from the fact it doesn’t crease and it’s unlined and it’s perfect for the summer – is that it’s got a breathable quality about it you normally only find in sportswear, and that means that when you perspire it just rolls off. It doesn’t actually absorb into the yarn. It’s very loose, which is why I wanted to show it on the bike riders, because when it moves it moves with them,” Sir Paul explained.
The point came through loud and clear in a presentation that once again proved that every event at LC:M doesn’t have to be a runway show to make a great impact. At Jimmy Choo, Sandra Choi had taken a leaf out of that book, too, with a grand presentation at Seymour Leisure Centre where a life-size skate park had literally been erected for BMX champions to show off their skills – and their Jimmy Choos – as press and buyers watched from a balcony.
It was a nod to Choi’s collection of urban hybrid shoes – part sporty, part formal – and, much in the vein of Paul Smith’s suit presentation, a demonstration of the performance level of Jimmy Choo shoes and their total versatility. “The fault lines that used to run between the formal and the informal, the sartorial and the sporting, or the technical and the extrovert are rapidly folding,” Choi said. “The only rule that counts now is that when you choose what to wear today, it has to be both fit for purpose and a true expression of your personality.”
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Text Anders Christian Madsen