An Orwellian façade of cast iron marks the entrance to No 9 Albemarle Street entrance. Paul Smith’s thirteenth London outlet dwarfs its Soho and Covent Garden relatives, and houses the designer’s entire range, including men’s, women’s and interiors collections. Decorative brass raccoons and earthenware greyhounds welcome the visitor inside the grand white shop with grain wood block floors and gold corniced shelving. On arrival a moustached sales assistant (and likely penny-farthing enthusiast) is on-hand with a friendly greeting and service with aplomb. Pale white radios and record players, from Dieter Ram’s Das Program Braun collection, reflect a British sentimentality for ’60s design. The tailor room, a semi-circular rail of hanging suit jackets in bureaucratic brown and electric blue, resembles a scene from a John le Carré novel. In fact, the entire store has the unashamed Britishness you expect from Paul Smith, but in a rather stylish Cold War era way. A fitting showcase for this eminent figure in British design.
As featured in the 100 best shops in London