YOUR (second) DAILY UNDERWEAR: fall 2008 RtW, Paul Smith

so i know it is a little late for fall 2008 reviews but.
my father and i were talking fashion yesterday á table which was really very nice and he told me that he loves Paul Smith. this surprised me because my father is not mushy-fat but you know--hard-fat?? he has a sort of hard, big stomach...anyway it surprised me because as far as i can tell Paul Smith stuff is only designed for that long, lean body (maybe even a younger body) and really just has to do with lines (which is very beautiful and i think very beautifully done in this case) and so i didn't quite see mi padre looking good in anything like that: attire that is serious in the sense that it requires the wearer to look a certain way to wear it and makes the wearer look silly/sad/pathetic when they do not meet the criteria..i told my father i'd like to see him in a more alber elbaz-esque get-up which has more to do with a sense of humor (my father doesn't dress with a sense of humor very frequently; when he does he wears tiny little bathing suit-shorts with big shirts from africa and humongous [see monstrous!] new balance sneakers...) but he is really fixated, i think maybe on the socks...so i have taken a look at the fall 2008 RtW collection and here are my thoughts:
first-off i do not like the "general idea" which is not even very clear to me but seems to have to do with clowns, punk, boarding schools, waiters, crocodile dundee, pirates, pyjamas, outer space--all in order of appearance, as i am writing this while going through the slides...
well i do not like things to be so jumbled if the jumble is not even the point.
here are some of the worst:

now what exactly do we think is going on under that coat? maybe it is a satin tie that looks like my 12-year-old sister's best friend's bathing suit. yes. or (i had a think!) maybe it actually gets tucked in and wraps around to the other side, thong-style (yes, yes) where it reattaches to the neck. i'm actually quite sure that's it. it's a neck-ball-neck thong. honestly i don't know what to say. (it's just so genius!)

again--what is going on under that thing? this may be even worst than the last because he's not even working the hideousness of it; it's like at the last minute they decided maybe it would be very, very smart to put a big black band around his middle for no apparent reason, and then maybe he thought people wouldn't love it so much so maybe he would try to hide it, but then he realized that because of the strange way he walks, closing all the buttons would not work (the entire jacket would undoubtedly fall apart), but he had already done up the top buttons and he had to get walking IMMEDIATELY! sooo the three belts/two belts and a big and thick rubber band went on display, really just encased, really just the center of attention. lord. really i am all for adventurous fashion but i like everything to have a reason to be and maybe i am just being slow but i am certainly not grasping the intention behind this.

the issue here with me is that the jacket looks (and the image quality here probably doesn't let you see it) so cheap and thin and not right for what it seems like it is supposed to be: more formal, maybe--i mean the shoes and pants are so great and heavy and suited to autumn, the shirt fits with that, and then we get this sort of light, drab, pajama top-like thing...if that were the point i wouldn't mind it but i get the feeling it was supposed to be more intense on top...looking at it, it sort of seems like it's just mismatched to its outfit, like it was just supposed to go with something else...anyway looking at it is giving me a migraine so on to...
some of the best:

i am a great fan of this look: the suit itself is cut beautifully but more classically than the others so pulling off the patterns is easy--however it doesn't really seem like it was designed that way (the non-confrontational cut) because of this balancing issue but just because it is better that way (less kid-trying-to-make-people-look-at-him, etc). the colors play off each other well, the bag is fabulous (not even the bag itself but just the idea of the bag being there), the model (who is he?) also is very much suited to the look. there's also this big dose of charm involved: you definitely see him in a certain setting, he definitely leaves the runway (i see a college campus and books??) and lastly the clothes are wearable and gorgeous and expensive and practical all á la fois which is great. oh it is making me sigh.

so this is predictably gossip girl but there is enough going on that is not (gossip girl) to make it work. i think that the strength of it is really its interestingness--the mix of totally different components that work so well together. of course i am madly, madly, madly in love with the jacket/blazer and will be procuring it for my future (very, very, very future) son. the only thing is that i don't love the shoes but anything else would have been a distraction probably.

the cleanness and the lines here are so awesome (imagine my big/hard-bellied daddy in this..), the thin belt is perfect because, as people often forget, simplicity is very powerful and even overpowering and produces the same sort of effect chaos in clothing does, the shoes and glasses also work to counteract the effect the the simplicity; i do love extremes but the beauty in this is that is is impeccably balanced out.

well. there were also some brightly colored pants that were nice but a little boring, maybe a J Crew + American Apparel mix; there was one long sort of trench-like coat that i gasped at (it was so great, really); and pretty, boyish cardigans.

but no time!
so eat the dump, please