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<\/picture><\/span><\/div>\nPaul Smith, Gabriela Hearst<\/span>Jojo Korsh\/BFA.com<\/span><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n Gabriela Hearst and Sir Paul Smith took over the penthouse at Chateau Marmont to celebrate the launch of their limited-edition collaboration, drawing an eclectic crowd that included Jessica Alba, John Boyega, Edward Norton, Quinta Brunson, Michael Stipe, Diplo, Tom Parker Bowles, and Mamie Gummer.<\/p>\n On paper, the Uruguayan designer and British fashion savant might make for an unlikely pair. Alas, the duo had been put in touch by a mutual friend\u2014Wesley Schultz of The Lumineers\u2014who sensed they\u2019d hit it off. They became pen pals at first, trading notes on each other\u2019s work, and then one day, over text, the idea of collaborating was floated. \u201cIt was not a big plan,\u201d Smith told Vogue<\/em>. \u201cIn the world today, everything\u2019s so corporate and homogenized. This was just like, \u2018Should we do something fun together?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Inspiration struck thanks to a box of Smith\u2019s father\u2019s old photographs. An amateur photographer, his images of the Welsh mountains had faded due to time and decades spent in storage. \u201cI describe them in my head as like a Godard film,\u201d Smith said. \u201cSlightly hazy, slightly in focus, and slightly out of focus; they have a very surreal tint.\u201d For Hearst, who grew up on a ranch where her grandmother was a formative presence, the images resonated immediately\u2014and the images became the cohesive thread of the collection.<\/p>\n The result is a 14-piece offering for men and women, featuring the vintage visuals transposed onto silk trench coats, bias-cut slip dresses, intarsia cashmere sweaters, and virgin wool barr\u00e9 suiting. The nappa leather Nina and Demi bags got the landscape treatment too. \u201cColor is everything<\/em>,\u201d noted Hearst. \u201cWorking with the master of it, the images already said so much. You can see them in embroidered intarsia, hand-knitted into a cashmere sweater, and then also on a suit.\u201d Said sweaters are hand-knit by Manos del Uruguay\u2014a nonprofit cooperative supporting economic independence for women in rural communities\u2014in a nod that speaks directly to Hearst\u2019s longstanding commitment to responsible production.<\/p>\n Guests took their seats for a rooftop dinner of hamachi crudo, beet salad, and lemon tagliatelle at tables dressed in white linen and laden with colorful Louis Poulsen lamps; cashmere Manos del Uruguay throws draped over the back of each chair. Quinta Brunson, wearing the slip dress and trench coat, summed up the appeal. \u201cIt\u2019s the simplicity and care of Gabriela\u2019s work, but with the color and spark of what Paul has always done. It\u2019s a really magical collaboration and I\u2019ve been complimented on my outfit about 20 times.\u201d<\/p>\n While they dined, the collection was already moving\u2014several pieces had sold out in boutiques that day. And as the last of the tiramisu disappeared and the party dispersed, Hearst told everyone to pocket their napkins\u2014as they too were printed with images from the collection. \u201cPaul has the joyfulness of a kid with the humbleness of one of the greats,\u201d praised Hearst of her collaborator as she kissed cheeks and said her goodbyes. \u201cHe\u2019s one of the original punks.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n