Paul Smith, esteemed elder statemen of the London fashion design world, included a crocheted Nana blanket dress in his collection at this week's London Fashion Week.
It would be funny and ironic, kitsch and all that if it weren't for the fact that Australia's Romance Was Born did the same thing for spring summer 2010. The psych-folk Aussies showed the dress in crochet, and applied a photographic version to print bags and boardshorts.
It's of course entirely possible that Smith and his creative London crew have not heard of our Anna and Luke. But they must have heard of Cate Blanchett. She wore the Nana dress and got slammed by fashion critics like the
Fug girls and the UK's
Daily Mail. Two other explanations spring up. Maybe Smith doesn't monitor blogs as obsessively as some (I) do or wrapping your Nan's crocheted knee-rug around a model is not a very original idea. After all, Esmes, Irises and Mabels have been at it for a good seventy years.
