Paul Smith opts for the masculine

Paul Smith yesterday showed his autumn/winter 2006 Blue women's collection, inspired by masculine tailoring. Called the Men Only collection, models wore masculine trouser suits in sludgy shades of brown and schoolboy grey, crisp, white shirts worn with skinny-rib knitted vests and snake belts, traditional crombies and, of course, that mainstay of the androgynous wardrobe - men's brogues, all redesigned to suit the female form. According to one editor, these were real clothes that will please modern women who would rather not dress up like the proverbial Christmas tree.

But in true Paul Smith style, feminine flourishes came later. If the more masculine side of the show was an ode to movie siren Katherine Hepburn, the 1940s were also much in evidence in the form of velvet polka dot tea dresses, paisley-print chiffons and more directional clothing that seemed to reference the Belgian designer, Ann Demeulemeester.

Fashion's avant-garde has been taking a back seat for some time now and is ripe for revisiting. It's been quite a month for Smith. Last week, Smith sold a 40 per cent stake in his business to his long-time Japanese licensee, Itochu, for an undisclosed sum. If Smith is a household name in this country, in Japan he is a superstar. With a global wholesale turnover approaching £230m - 54 per cent comes from menswear, 28 per cent from accessories, 14 per cent from womenswear and 4 per cent from shoes - he is one of British fashion's great success stories.

In this country alone, he has 16 stores and has just opened a home interiors and accessories shop in Albemarle Street and a boutique near Borough Market, both in London . Smith insists that this latest turn of events was not a sell out/merger late Nineties-style but a natural progression that will allow his wife and business partner, Pauline, time to spend with their family.