To stylize their latest special-edition camera, Leica brought Paul Smith onboard as a design consultant. The collaboration between the British fashion icon and the German camera-making icon isn’t the first time these two design brands have come together, though.
In 2012, Leica and Paul Smith unveiled the X2 Paul Smith, a classic version of the Leica rangefinder that boasted the Smith hallmark of tension and concordance in colors. Smith used bright red and yellow to liven up the utilitarian matte gray of the production model.
The newest Leica/Smith offering builds on the camera maker’s CL model. Smith brings a bit more complexity to the color scheme this time around, stacking forest green, canary yellow, carmine and creamy gray beneath a cornflower blue cap, the composition making the bright red of the Leica emblem stand out in relief.
The colors are similar to those used in Smith’s 2016 Land Rover, with the stacking serving the same representational purpose: to indicate dimensions of context and meaning. Nifty. But limited to 900 examples—in a package that also includes a dust cloth and strap unique to the edition—and priced at $4K.