Paul Smith: How To Find Fashion Inspiration In Fra Angelico'S Murals

"Nobody cares how perfect you have been," Paul Smith, a seventh year old, is still a master of foresight. His varied and complex style of cutting has made him the United Kingdom.

The evergreen standard bearer.

Paul Smith annual sales of nearly 200 million pounds, in a fashion has been monopolized by multinational groups, the traditional market is increasingly subject to electricity providers.

,

In the era of fast fashion giants, Paul was still a minority. He insisted on self and advocated pluralism and became a survivor of the industry.

According to the world clothing and shoe net, last year, Smith made a radical reform of the brand founded in 1976 (he still owns 60% of the brand). He banned a series of collateral lines and contracts, focusing on the men's and women's wear lines every two years.

"I can do that because Paul Smith is still my personal brand," Paul said.

This month, in addition to the new conference held in Paris, Smith will also attend the influential Pitti Uomo men's Wear Exhibition in Florence, Italy as an invited guest designer. During the exhibition, he will show the latest works designed by him.

Paul is a self-taught designer. His brand has already opened 370 branches around the world. Paul Smith has interviewed us on the phone. He talked about the popularity of high street tide cards and how he was inspired by how to find the murals in Fra Angelico.

Since your brand is headquartered in London and your big show is in Paris, what attracted you to Florence and Pitti Uomo?

I had a long talk with Raffaello Napoleone, executive director of the Florence fashion show. He said, "we'd love to see you return, but please don't do a fashion show." he said, "we'll have a show and a cocktail party because many people are willing to talk with you." Rafael Napoleone.

That's true.

Well, if someone asks you, what is the biggest change since you entered the industry for decades? How would you answer this question?

The year when man invented the wheel was also the year when I started designing men's clothing. Since then, everything has changed dramatically.

When I first started designing, there was not much fabric to choose from, and everyone knew little about fashion.

At that time, there was no faster fashion and electricity supplier.

Later, we have a large number of men's wear magazines. People are more and more interested in personal adorning. Men basically consider their appearance.

Now, this situation has been overcorrected -- too many products, too many designers.

This view is specifically elucidated.

You can take a look at the quantity of products available nowadays.

Pay attention to the number of fashion shows ten years ago and the number of fashion shows today.

There are more and more brands trying to break into this industry to win the favor of men.

Can the industry stand up to such challenges?

Personally, as a company, our business is doing a good job.

We can guarantee substantial income now.

But I think many people and companies are going through a difficult period because of the oversaturated market.

Does the so-called excessive saturation lead to a certain degree of commercial aesthetic ambiguity, that is, consumers can not distinguish between different brands?

Yes, but this is not only in the fashion industry.

I hate to express, but your brand must have its own genes, and we must advocate unique values and vision.

For example, I have started launching new products every two years, which is the unique brand characteristics.

Do you want to reduce the number of new products and run the show frequency in order to strengthen the core gene of the brand?

There are many great classic fashion elements in the United States: denim pants and high quality Oxford shirts.

A large number of brands are good at making high-quality basic funds.

On the contrary, we can also see high-end fashion brands.

So did you take a compromise?

We've gone for a long walk.

Paul Smith is an independent company owned by myself.

We will not be under the pressure of greedy shareholders, so the brand genes can become more natural and original.

We can move on with our hearts. If we belong to a large group company, I will not be able to do that.

To some extent, aren't you always standing outside the system of industry?

I have never received professional fashion design training.

At that time, my girlfriend was my teacher, and now she became my wife.

It is precisely because of this, my design ideas have more barbaric production space.

When I started designing work, I often had the question: "why would anyone want to buy a shirt designed by me, a 21 year old, nameless town from a small town in England?"

So how do you solve this problem?

My answer is that I am not designing seven button shirts.

I will add a colorful button eye to the dress, each button in different colors, or stitch a special pattern in the lining.

I was the first designer to use print pictures in the lining.

This is also the famous design style of "classic with a twist".

Wikipedia thinks this is your original technique.

For me, the most important thing for clothing is to wear simply and easily, not to burden people.

A Paul Smith jacket looks the same as an ordinary jacket but reveals a unique sense of humor inadvertently.

When you lean down to pick up a pen, a handkerchief or a wine cup, others will suddenly see the fancy pattern of the lining.

It seems that there is no cynical attitude in fashion circles except Gucci.

A large number of fashion brands have become global money machines. Designers are faced with the pressure of making money every day, so it is hard to maintain a cynical attitude.

Nowadays, it is hard for designers to follow their original intention or to show their individuality. They have to mention that last season, the CEO of the big fashion houses forced designers to produce hot single products to reach millions of sales.

After observing the political structure of Italy, France and Britain, I think the culture of street gentlemen will appear again.

Many young people are not cold about globalization. They hate the fashionable brand of opinion leaders and monopoly marketing flow.

{page_break}

What do you mean by "street gentleman culture"?

In Britain, Moss, punk, new romantics, and light headed parties have taken turns on the stage of history. These movements are often full of radical and uninhibited colors, but they do not simply express their views. They just jump out to show their differences.

In the context of cyber culture, is the possibility of such sports happening very small? Your brand and shops are full of eclectic things - from striped socks to Retro Black discs to chain buttons - you are undoubtedly a master of this style.

The room I now live in is full of many objects and lots of black tape.

When I went to work, the first thing I did was play a record.

These objects will give me great inspiration.

In the spring men's wear show in Paris in 2017, we saw that you paid tribute to Bob Marley (Bob Marley), Peter Tosh (Peter Tosh) and Bonnie Vela (Bunny Wailer) through specific elements, and you seem to know them well.

In the late 1950s, many Caribbean immigrants came to London and formed an inhabited community in the Nottinghill gate area, where they held a carnival in August each year.

In the late 60s, I was a young man. I had been there for a while at a friend's house at Nottinghill, when I slept on the floor.

It was haunted by thunder all day, and it was an unforgettable time for me.

Occasionally, I heard this type of music again, and all the past events poured into my heart.

What should we expect for the new series you will be presenting in Pitti Uomo?

When I first went to New York in 1974, my first stop was SoHo, where a large number of artists lived.

You can see the wonderful castle, the Perth gallery and the Harris gallery.

You can see pearl lacquer, all artists put together the materials they want, and stores that sell all kinds of special products. These stores no longer exist.

I remember sitting in the FA Ni Li cafe and bumping into British sculptor Richard Wentworth.

I think, "this is the so-called sacred place of art."

My 18 year series will be based on the experience of this trip.

Is 60s meaningful to you, or is it your experience in New York that makes you feel a lot?

Both have both.

Designers nowadays often despise each other and often find inspiration from popular events. This is boring.

The so-called hot events may originate from the Internet, or it may be something that people are obsessed with in a certain era.

You will hope that they can open their eyes and think more seriously.

What do you mean?

You will always be concerned about the trend of other brands and what other designers are doing, so you know what to do.

But I am open to all elements.

In a trip to Italy, I went on the road to Piero della Francesca, and finally came to Urbino. In one of his paintings, I saw antique sandals. I suddenly thought, "Oh, this is not the inspiration of morrow!" in the journey, we also came to the suburbs of Venice, enjoying the works of Palladio, and seeing the perfect villas, which can be easily incorporated into the design.

Looking at a jacket, you will immediately think of Palladio's symmetry: the pocket of the pair of buttons is just like the two axisymmetric windows, and the column of the center is like the opening of a jacket.

More interesting reports, please pay attention to the world clothing shoes and hats net.