Paul smith biography

Colour is important — this could mean printing familiar things in unexpected colours. We are famous for our print, and in particular, our stripes which are all developed in our design studio in Covent Garden. We develop our stripes by winding coloured yarn around cardboard which slowly builds up to create a stripe. In this way we can see how colours work together and how the balance of the stripe will work on a garment.

We are working constantly to design three clothing collections for women and four clothing collections for men; the print design alone takes up a lot of my attention. I have been taking photographs since I was eleven; photography is one of my hobbies. My father was an amateur photographer and founding member of the camera club in Beeston, Nottingham.

He inspired my passion for photography. I have a camera with me at all times. A few years ago it was suggested that I take photographs for the campaigns, which is something I have done ever since. I constantly strive for individuality — we never work to a formula. Collaborations have been a hallmark of your career. I find collaborations stimulating and challenging.

One of my first collaborations was with the car manufacturer, Rover, on a Mini. Since then, we have designed cameras, rugs, motorbikes, bicycles, snowboards and much, much more. I hate shops that all look the same — I love individuality. We design all our own shops. I want each of them to have its own character and one which reflects its setting in some way.

People were surprised to find a shop selling a Dieter Rams designed Braun calculator, a pink Dyson vacuum cleaner and a Filofax, as well as clothes. This is something we continue today setting beautifully tailored clothing next to vintage and contemporary books, art and collectables - a shop in which you can find interesting objects and surprises.

Every Paul Smith shop is different with a unique design approach behind each one. The shops offer something completely modern but with a sense of traditional values in the way that customers are treated. I like the smell of beeswax polish, the feeling that someone cares. We produce twenty-eight collections a year. Inspiration for a collection can come from anywhere — an art book in my office, a market in India, a church in Lithuania, traditional dress from Guatemala.

I am much more interested in finding the key idea and choosing the right fabrics and colours. I like my clothes to hold a secret — a sober grey suit with a brightly coloured lining, ties with unexpected linings. The clothes in this section have been purposely grouped into four main themes that have inspired my work, rather than by year.

My designs often draw on very British traditions and motifs. I am frequently travelling, which influences everything that the company does. Every year I make at least two trips to Japan, which is one of our most important markets. I go on regular fabric buying trips to Italy and France. Print has always been a hugely important feature in my collections.

It started as a way of adding individuality to menswear, pairing a simple navy suit with a floral shirt. I was one of the first designers to use the photographic print technique on fabric. Imagery for shirts has ranged from apples, leaves, flowers, clouds, budgies, kittens, jellyfish, to a plate of plastic spaghetti. Over the years, print has extended to T-shirts, bags, and scarves, as well as jacket linings.

We are famous for adding colour. My stripes have been so popular because they are colourful — colour makes people happy. If used in the right way, colour can add interest and express positivity. Colour has been added to classic garments in the form of linings, or simply as punctuation marks. Lawrence Broadway Cinema. By Gabriele Dirvanauskas 14 October Paul Smith in his Byard Lane store in Nottingham.

Smith has come a long way since starting his career with the launch of a miniscule, 32 sq ft store on Byard Lane in his home town of Nottingham. After spending six months in hospital, Smith was introduced to the arts by friends from a local art college, and took evening lessons in tailoring, before joining Savile Row tailor Lincroft Kilgour.

His then girlfriend, and now wife, Pauline Denyer was studying couture clothing at the Royal College of Art and encouraged him to open his first store. It may have been small, but it housed big ambitions. Smith would also bring back and sell objects from his travels, including posters from Paris and souvenirs from Greece. Paul Smith menswear show He has shown his collections in the city ever since — until Covid put a temporary stop to Smith making the pilgrimage this season.

His early collections included reworked signature tailoring — a bright-yellow check mini-skirt with co-ordinated coat, scarf and bag took to the catwalk in While stuck at home in London during lockdown, Smith says he looked back to photos of past travels, which formed the inspiration for the collection, seen through loose, pastel tailoring and bold floral motifs in menswear, mixed with school uniform maroon and navy stripes, echoed in womenswear.

Awards [ edit ]. Local recognition [ edit ]. Partnerships and other business pursuits [ edit ]. This section is in list format but may read better as prose. You can help by converting this section , if appropriate. Editing help is available. January Publications [ edit ]. References [ edit ]. Design Museum. Daily News. Retrieved 28 December Cycling Weekly.

Retrieved 5 June The Business of Fashion. Culture Trip. The Independent. Archived from the original on 25 May Retrieved 13 June The Guardian.

Paul smith biography

BBC News. Retrieved 9 February Retrieved 6 June The London Gazette Supplement. Nottingham City Council. Retrieved 26 September Architectural Digest. Retrieved 7 June Web Bike World. Trend Hunter. Retrieved 1 December Rodale, Inc. ISSN Retrieved 1 November New York Times. GQ UK. Archived from the original on 9 December It's Nice That. Retrieved 20 November Retrieved 17 July The Gentleman's Journal.

Cartner-Morley, Jess 14 November Retrieved 19 May Finnigan, Kate.