Paul Smith and Gabriela Hearst unveil craft-driven workwear capsule

Paul Smith and Gabriela Hearst turned family memory into a sharply edited 14-piece capsule that felt closest to polished workwear when it was at its best. Built from two photographs Paul Smith’s father, Harold B. Smith, took in the British countryside in the 1950s and 1960s, the collection used a mountain and a waterfall as its central motifs, then carried those images across garments made for actual rotation: a silk satin trench coat, bias-cut slip dresses, Italian-made virgin wool barré suiting, hand-knit cashmere and reworked Nina and Demi bags.

What made the collaboration distinct was not just the archive, but the way both designers translated it into clothes with structure and purpose. Hearst’s Uruguay ranch upbringing, where objects were made to last and every piece had a function, gave the capsule a utilitarian spine that tempered the poetry of the landscape photography. The strongest crossover pieces were the tailoring and outerwear, especially the Irving Jacket and the Lyra Trench Coat, which made the most credible case for moving from showpiece to weekday wardrobe. The Irving Jacket was priced at $4,150, while the Lyra Trench Coat reached $7,800, putting the collection squarely in luxury territory even when the silhouettes leaned practical.

The craftsmanship story ran through every category. The cashmere crewnecks were hand-knit by Manos del Uruguay, the nonprofit cooperative supporting women in rural communities, while the suiting was made in Italy with the kind of precision that gives a collar a better line and a trouser its discipline. The accessory update also mattered: Gabriela Hearst’s Nina bag came in at $4,200, and the Demi bag was reworked as well, extending the capsule’s language into top-handle form without losing the disciplined, tailored feel that anchored the clothes.

Photographed by Cathy Kasterine and styled by Camilla Nickerson, the campaign moved those landscapes into an urban New York frame, with references to a young Patti Smith and Brooklyn musician Cameron Winter adding a more contemporary edge. Paul Smith has previously returned to Harold B. Smith’s photographs in an A/W 2025 collection and in the 2000 two-volume book Father & Son, which makes this collaboration feel less like a one-off and more like a continuing design thesis. Launched May 20-21, 2026 through Paul Smith boutiques, paulsmith.com, Gabriela Hearst’s stores in Beverly Hills, New York and London, and the brands’ websites, the capsule offered a clear answer to the question of craft in modern dress: it can be lyrical, but it still needs a shoulder seam, a sleeve and a reason to wear it.