Patrick McDowell knows their client well — well enough to leave chocolate truffles on the seats, well enough to send personal notes, and well enough to know exactly when to push gently against their own established aesthetic. This season, held at the South Bank studios of the Rambert Dance Company, that push was quietly but clearly present.

The collection was inspired by George Platt Lynes, the American fashion photographer of the 1930s and 40s who spent his days shooting fashion models and his nights documenting New York’s artistic and queer community. He worked in baggy workman jumpsuits — and it was that detail, translated into a plum wool viscose twill jumpsuit, that served as the collection’s opening reference point. A semi-nude Adonis lounging on a bed of rocks and moss in the centre of the show space paid further homage to Platt Lynes’s nocturnal photographic world.

McDowell has drawn from this era before — last season centred on a grandmother; the season before on dancer Marie Rambert. The attraction is consistent: “Clothes from that time are beautifully made — they seem very thought-through and substantial,” the designer said. “When you look at pieces in the V&A archives, they are all intact.”

What was notable this season was a deliberate loosening of the McDowell signature. The slinky silk floor-length gowns had dropped waists. Embellishments were stripped back. The result was still unmistakably McDowell — never casual, always considered — but more wearable than previous outings, which was precisely the point. Twenty-five looks moved through the dance studio in silk crepe and silk damask, cotton and wool viscose, in black, white, pink and plum. Two floral prints, made from photographs of flowers taken by McDowell’s own team, appeared on floor-length gowns and two-pieces with tailored, voluminous skirts.

The nerves McDowell admitted to feeling about the shift were understandable — but the presence of buyers from stores not yet carrying the label suggested the direction is landing exactly where it needs to. A maturing designer and, increasingly, a savvy business person.