LONDON, United Kingdom — Patrick Grant's show for E. Tautz posed one burning question: what about this particular collection made the designer feel it would benefit from runway exposure? It would have been so much better for the silver-tongued Grant to talk through the clothes in a presentation, clarifying their unassuming subtleties, couching limitations as quiet strengths, rather than marching them context-less down a catwalk. That's not strictly accurate: there were notes that spoke of Peter Mitchell's photographs of scarecrows, which served a somewhat misleading purpose in whetting a pre-show appetite for shambolically charming experiments in dress.

True, Grant’s boxy flannels and tweeds, baggy pleated pants and nubbly knits had a worn edge, but hardly scarecrow-old. Instead, they were more like the earth-toned casualwear Dad would choose for a weekend out of town. And maybe he’d listen to Phil Collins on the drive, because that was the soundtrack on Saturday morning.