DAKS AUTUMN/WINTER 2015-16 READY-TO-WEAR LONDON

Oh, Daks. If you are British, male, and know clothes, this brand really means something: It’s deep. That check! Trousers without suspenders! The incredible building on Piccadilly! Great sportswear and ready-to-wear tailoring!

But that was then and this is now. Globalized 21st-century Daks is massive in Korea and designed by Filippo Scuffi. And in the context of now, he is doing an excellent job. For this collection Scuffi deployed a rigorously efficient cut, paste, and meld: stirring a Quant-touched, Austin Powers ’60s-ishness with a breath of bell-bottomed ’70s-ishness. The motif was biker jackets. To counter their diamond quilt and horizontally ribbed leather toughness, a (perhaps oversize) rose print gave us femininity. The women’s pants worn above brogues were sometimes great—low on the hip, wide cuffed, and in check, or in a slouchy leather.

There was a masculine counterpoint that wore jumpsuits—one especially unbeautifully rendered in black leather—and iffy matching shirts and ties. These, though, were just show ponies. Overlooking the silly hats, the red tights—seriously?—and the history of the brand, this was an efficient enough collection. And a trouser fastener on the back of the houndstooth skirt in look 20 hinted that Scuffi at least knows what Daks once was, and respects it. That’s something with which we old Piccadilly haunters can console ourselves.