As soon as you’ve got a foot in the door at the Royal Academy’s impressively expansive Picasso And Paper exhibition, you’re confronted with a monumental portrait of the artist himself. Captured in his studio, mid-sketch, it’s a familiar sight. Not least because Mr Pablo Picasso is wearing one of his signature stripy tops, the enduring reference point we have for his likeness. There’s plenty to see after that, too. Room after room, you’ll stumble upon hurried preparatory studies for one of the most important paintings of the 20th century, “Les Demoiselles d’Avignon”, alongside wispy paper cut-outs – some completed at the tender age of nine – of a dog and a dove as well as a trove of illustrations, sculptures, models, ceramics, collages, sketches, poetry and paintings.

When your job is to write about clothes, though, it’s only natural that even when faced with the exhibition’s endless ephemera, you keep coming back to that Breton top. Yes, Mr Picasso is rightly remembered as one of the greatest artists of all time, but he doesn’t quite get enough credit for his excellent dress sense, which went well beyond his hallmark staple. Few, for example, can pull off workwear quite as confidently as Mr Picasso (see the picture above) let alone in scarlet red. And so, to salute the landmark show – which opens in London this weekend and the US later this year – here are three lessons we could all learn from the master of style.

How do you solve a problem like the French climate in January? If you’re a regular at MR PORTER, you’ll already know that there are few sartorial conundrums a shearling jacket cannot remedy. Though, that’s not to say that the checked trousers and suede shoes here fall anything short of excellence. Mr Picasso, pictured above at Nice airport with his second wife Ms Jacqueline Roque, had a particular affection for teddy bear-like outerwear, even donning one over his tux. Speaking of which…

According to all conventional wisdom, a corduroy tuxedo is everything eveningwear shouldn’t be. A dinner jacket is supposed to be sharp and smarten your frame; corduroy is slouchy and soft, without a clean line in sight. But experience tells us that, often, it’s the unlikeliest of garments (fleece jacket, anyone?) that breakout. For our money, the corduroy suit – a get-up that conveys both quirkiness and nonchalance at once – is your formal wardrobe’s new star. See also, Mr Timothée Chalamet’s candyfloss-coloured number at the London screening of Little Women.

Given Mr Picasso’s penchant for mixed media and collage, it’s unsurprising that he also had a fondness for blending textures and pattern. There’s vast photographic evidence that will show him effortlessly combining checks with tweed, checks with wool and, yes, checks with other checks. Here, at a signing for Mr Paul Éluard’s Le Visage de la Paix, which was illustrated by the artist, he deftly demonstrates how two seemingly incongruous designs – a gingham sweater and chevron-weave wool – belong together. Masterful.

Picasso and Paper at the Royal Academy of Arts, London runs from 25 January to 13 April, 2020 and the Cleveland Museum of Art 24 May to 23 August, 2020

royalacademy.org.uk

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