New Arch Dress

Working in isolation during the COVID 19 pandemic - and with limited access to materials - Smith struck upon his signature appliqué technique; cutting, collaging and sewing scraps of fabric. After graduation, Smith continued to refine his technique while focussing on offering small quantities of hand-finished, bespoke garments.

Steve O Smith officially launched during Paris Fashion Week in February 2024, with the Autumn-Winter 2024 collection viewable via private appointment and an online lookbook. The collection featured tailored daywear and organza eveningwear appliquéd with interpretations of Smith’s sketches, whose tromp l’oeil effect was upheld by the monochromatic palette of grey, black and white.

The 'New Arch' dress hails from the Spring-Summer 2025 collection, the brand’s second collection, and is loosely inspired by Christian Dior's New Look of 1947. Composed of white organza, hand appliquéd with black silk crepe de chine, the dress’ narrow bodice and broad skirt display Smith’s technique to full effect. The lightweight base of the dress allows the emphatic black lines to almost float, mimicking the freedom and motion of the artist’s hand. Expressing only basic details of cut and silhouette, the contrasting black lines act as the suggestion of a dress, producing the illusion of a sketch come to life. Emphasizing this effect, the dress’ construction is surprisingly 2D. Rather than the full circle-skirt one would expect with a silhouette influenced by mid-century couture, the skirt is wide but narrow, flattened by structural tulle panniers that exaggerate the hips along one axis only.