Welcome Mr Smith

We thought it’d be fitting to say welcome to our new designer for Garment Quarter, Mr Paul Smith.

Quick History

Paul Smith’s introduction into fashion was completely accidental. At the age of 16, with no career plans or qualifications, Paul Smith was propelled by his father into a menial job at the local clothing warehouse in Nottingham. However his real passion was sport and his ambition was to become a professional racing cyclist, until aged 17 years when cycling-mad Paul was in a terrible accident. Six months in hospital followed and during this time Paul made some new friends. After leaving hospital he arranged to meet them again and by chance the meeting place was a local pub that was popular with the students from the local art college.

Within two years, Paul Smith was managing his first boutique in Nottingham and with the encouragement of his girlfriend Pauline Denyer (now wife) and a small amount of savings, opened a tiny shop in 1970. Paul started to take evening classes for tailoring and with the help of Pauline (an RCA fashion graduate), Paul was able to create what he wanted. By 1976 Paul showed his first menswear collection in Paris under the Paul Smith label.

In business for over 40 years Paul Smith had established himself as the pre-eminent British designer. Paul Smith has an ability to anticipate, and even spark off trends not only fashion but in the wider context of popular culture. He manages to transmit a genuine sense of humour and mischief mixed with his love of tradition and the classics.

Spring/Summer 2015

“ITS effortless, it’s all about being effortless, did you see how the models just naturally put their hands in their pockets?”

Smith was quite taken by the array of easygoing urbanites that had walked the runway just seconds before. This season, there is nothing flash about his collection – no tricky details, no summer prints or sprays of colour – but that’s not to say the clothes aren’t just as fabulous as any other season.

This Spring/Summer, the clothes are utterly unapologetic in their normcore appeal.

“Wear this stuff to live in”

“Happy in your own skin”

Think giant pockets, loose tailored shapes, khaki cotton trousers and easy, breezy sleeveless linen tops are all featured this season. So let’s have a look what parts of his collection we have here at Garment Quarter.

The Clothes