As the automotive iconic reaches the end of its long life, Paul met up with the Land Rover team to take his bespoke Defender for a test-drive and share his fondness for one of Britain’s most recognisable vehicles.
Paul Smith
Paul worked closely with Land Rover’s Special Vehicle Operations (SVO) design team and Land Rover’s Chief Design Officer, Gerry McGovern, to create an utterly unique version of the Defender to honour this special vehicle as it reaches the end of production.
To create a Defender that captured Paul Smith’s confident use of colour, Paul sent the SVO team a set of Pantone colour references, which were then specially mixed to create the 27 colours that were used on the vehicle’s exterior.
Paul intended the patchwork colour scheme to honour the honest history of the Defender, especially its use on the farmyard and in the emergency services. Yet inside there is a feeling of luxury, with soft leather and Paul Smith Maharam fabric.