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5000 · SS2721 September 2026

5000 by Taylor Thompson, LFW debut SS27: the first Paul Smith's Foundation x CFDA designer-in-residence

5000 made its London Fashion Week debut with SS27, shown by Taylor Thompson, the American on Paul Smith's Foundation's residency. The residency runs from Studio Smithfield, with the workspace funded through Projekt and backed by the Mayor of London and the City of London Corporation. Thompson joined in January, chosen by a panel, after a run in New York that included a place among the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund finalists and a runway debut for autumn/winter 2025. Sir Paul Smith's welcome at the announcement: "Very pleased to have a visitor from America!" The song the collection leans on is written from inside addiction, and Thompson reads it as a song about home as the place where the damage happens, and the place you still go back to. His own question sits underneath: whether London becomes home because he chose it.

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015000, THE LABEL OF OAKLAND-BORN DESIGNER TAYLOR THOMPSON, MADE ITS LONDON FASHION WEEK DEBUT ON 20 SEPTEMBER. HE IS IN LONDON ON A RESIDENCY BACKED BY PAUL SMITH.

02THE SCHEME IS SHARED BY PAUL SMITH'S FOUNDATION AND THE CFDA, THE AMERICAN DESIGNERS' TRADE BODY. THOMPSON IS ITS FIRST DESIGNER-IN-RESIDENCE.

03IT GIVES HIM A FREE STUDIO AT STUDIO SMITHFIELD IN THE CITY FOR 12 MONTHS, PLUS MENTORING AND TRAINING IN THE BUSINESS SIDE, FROM FINANCE TO WHOLESALE.

04HE SHARES THE BUILDING WITH SIX UK DESIGNERS: HARRI, JOYCE BAO, RENATA BRENHA, PETRA FAGERSTROM, MASHA POPOVA AND EDEN TAN.

05THOMPSON WAS AN ASSISTANT DESIGNER AT THE NEW YORK LABEL HOOD BY AIR AT 19, THEN WORKED UNDER MARINE SERRE IN PARIS. 5000 IS KNOWN FOR ITS TAILORING.

06HIS SPRING 2027 COLLECTION STARTS FROM A QUESTION HE WAS ASKED: WHAT IS YOUR DEFINITION OF HOME? HE ANSWERED WITH A GIL SCOTT-HERON SONG TITLE.

07HOME IS WHERE THE HATRED IS COMES FROM SCOTT-HERON'S ALBUM PIECES OF A MAN. HE FOUND IT IN A SOHO RECORD SHOP ON HIS FIRST TRIP TO LONDON.

08TWO BOOKS SIT BESIDE THE RECORD IN HIS NOTES: SIMONE DE BEAUVOIR'S THE ETHICS OF AMBIGUITY AND JAMES BALDWIN'S GO TELL IT ON THE MOUNTAIN.

09HE SHOWED AT 180 STUDIOS IN A ROOM BUILT FOR LISTENING TO RECORDS, WITH MUSIC CHOSEN BY ZAKIA SEWELL, THE BBC RADIO 6 MUSIC PRESENTER.

10HIS NOTES MOVE THROUGH LEAVING, SEARCHING, CONFRONTATION, FREEDOM AND RETURN. THEY END: "SOMETIMES HOME IS SOMETHING WE HAVE TO BUILD FOR OURSELVES."

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