Paul Smith: A Life in Fashion and Creativity

“Fashion is just clothing, it is not some sort of a surgery—we’re not saving lives.”

By Kristina Moskalenko for the Russian FT – Vedomosti

The Design Museum London is now home to Hello, My Name is Paul Smith, an electrifying deep dive into 50 years of fashion, creativity, and iconic British design! This must-see exhibition brings Paul Smith’s legendary world to life, featuring a recreation of his office and workshop, plus a stunning display of clothing, shoes, perfumes, watches, and more from his groundbreaking collections. On opening day, Sir Paul Smith himself took guests on an exclusive behind-the-scenes tour, sharing untold stories and creative secrets. Don’t miss this once-in-a-lifetime London fashion exhibition—catch it before it closes in March 2014!

A Quick Look at His Career

• 1946 – Born in Nottinghamshire, England.
• 1970 – Opened his first shop in Nottingham.
• 1976 – Debuted his collection in Paris.
• 1979 – Became the first designer to open a store in Covent Garden, London.
• 2000 – Knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for his contribution to fashion.

“Many people take fashion far too seriously. But at the end of the day, it’s just clothing—not surgery. We’re not saving lives”.

The exhibition isn’t a retrospective of Paul Smith’s career. Instead, it offers a window into his world—his workspace, his creative mind. He welcomes visitors into his office and his thoughts with effortless charm.

At a press conference before the opening, he hands out Paul Smith socks and notebooks to any journalist bold enough to ask a question. With a cheeky smile, he joked about “managing to achieve something with such a name” and casually mentioned that he doesn’t suffer from stress or depression.

“The key to life is balance. Every morning, I wake up at five, go for a swim, and always feel good,” Smith says, rummaging through his bag for another pair of socks. “Would you like colourful ones or blue? Also, I have a wonderful wife, Pauline Denyer. This exhibition is dedicated to her.“

And it’s not just a polite gesture. “She taught me how to cut and sew and inspired me to open my first shop in 1970,” Smith admits.

How It All Began

Well, Paul Smith’s first “shop” wasn’t exactly grand—it was a tiny three-by-three-meter room in Nottingham, open just two days a week while he juggled other jobs to keep his dream alive. The exhibition kicks off with a recreation of that modest space, always packed with customers—or dominated by the towering Smith and his Afghan hound, who, he jokes, looked just like him back then.

From there, visitors step into a replica of a Paris hotel room where his career took off in 1976. “I simply rented a room for four days, hung jackets on wardrobe doors, covered the bed in black fabric, and laid out shirts. A single buyer came in at the very last moment and bought everything,” Smith recalls.

Inside His Office—A World of Creativity

But what’s so groundbreaking about a plate of pasta (which, by the way, is right here in the office too!) after Andy Warhol’s famous can of soup? “Back in the day, it was revolutionary to create a fabric pattern from a photograph. Today, with digital printing, it hardly raises an eyebrow. The real game-changer has been technology—especially the internet and communications. Fashion has become faster, cheaper, and now most designers are more like stylists or marketers. I’m not complaining, just saying that knowing how to sew has been a massive advantage for me. At the end of the day, Paul Smith is like Savile Row, but with a sense of humor—like if Mr. Bean worked in tailoring.”

A Knighthood, a Wedding, and a Lesson in Success

And maybe it’s exactly this British knack for laughing at oneself, rather than just financial success, that earned Paul Smith his knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II 13 years ago. “It was a wild day. To top it off, I got married right after lunch,” Paul Smith reminisces. “In both life and work, I love mixing the highbrow with the humorous. People often take fashion too seriously, but it’s just clothes—not surgery. We’re not saving lives here. And in fashion, success isn’t about how amazing you were once upon a time—it’s about who you are right now.”

We step into the next room, a stunning recreation of Paul Smith’s current office, where mountains of color palettes, stacks of patterns, and hundreds of spools of thread fill the space. “The Paul Smith empire could easily be four times bigger, but that’s not my goal,” he says. “I don’t do anything just for profit. I believe both people and brands should be ethical. That’s why I only use recycled paper for packaging and avoid loud, oversized labels on my clothes. Neither things nor people should shout. I love simplicity—simple people and simple things.”

Inspiration is Everywhere

And boy, Paul Smith truly loves things! For years he’s been hoarding everything from paintings and photographs to old cameras and postcards. To the untrained eye, it might look like clutter, but for Paul, it’s pure “inspiration.”“Ideas come from everywhere—even the shadows on the wall created by Venetian blinds,” he believes.

After all the abundance of items, stepping into the next room feels almost like a shift in atmosphere. Here, mannequins dressed in Paul Smith designs stand in neat rows. “This is just a small selection,” Paul says with a smile, as he shakes hands with visitors and snaps a few photos along the way. “It’s divided into themes: British Tradition, Travel, Color, and Prints.” He adds, “Now, let’s take a look at a video of the behind-the-scenes of my fashion show in Paris.” We move into a dimly lit, intimate cinema room, and Paul chuckles, saying it reminds him of the darkroom where he and his father—an amateur photographer—used to develop film. “I photograph all our advertising campaigns and often shoot for magazines myself,” he explains. “There are two of my cameras here: a Rolleiflex and a Kodak, both from 1958. Fun fact: my father gave me the Kodak.”

When asked about Instagram and new technology, Smith shrugs. “I don’t mind technology. 3D printing is interesting, but anyone can do it. That’s why I think it won’t last in fashion. What will last are traditional techniques—screen printing, embroidery, hand-drawn designs. That’s why my striped scarves aren’t designed on a computer. I wrap different colored threads around a board to see how they look in real life, not on a screen. I love things that have effort behind them. Effort is everything in life,” Paul Smith says with conviction.

As he speaks, I glance at the wall we just passed—a wall covered in 70,000 buttons—and suddenly, it all clicks. Could it be a nod to the button maker in Peer Gynt, who certainly wouldn’t come for Paul since he’d put in enough effort to make something of himself? But Sir Paul, without skipping a beat, grins and calmly admits, “I’ve never read Ibsen.”

Instead, he leads me to what he believes captures the essence of his entire career.

A simple yellow sticky note that reads:

“Every day is a new beginning.

Originally published at Vedomosti (FT/WSJ Franchise in Russia): https://www.vedomosti.ru/library/articles/2013/11/29/persona-ser-pol-smit-britanskij-dizajner