PAUL SMITH
TALKING DESIGN
WITH 'TRUE BRIT'

PS: I know that I wasn't really good at art because I hadn't really been encouraged to be good at art. Whereas my dad used to make everything with his hands, and he had a small workroom in the house. He was always making things with wood and metal. And also he was an amateur photographer, so he did all sorts of crazy things like made me into a new super hero in a photo, this then was superimposed onto another photograph, so it looked like I was flying through the sky.

Air: How long was it after that fateful day in the pub that you got involved in fashion? How did it happen?

PS: Well, I opened the first shop in 1970, so after the (bike) crash, after a few years, I decided to enter the world of fashion. I became a shop assistant in a clothing shop, then after six years, I met Pauline, my "partner," as you call it these days, and she encouraged me to eventually open my own shop. So with a small amount of savings I opened my own shop.

Air: Your first shop was in Nottingham, England.

PS: Yes, that's right. It was tiny. About this size (walks around to show the approximate size ) [Ed. about the size of my one-room apartment in Japan - very small]. We rebuilt it exactly to the original size for the True Brit exhibition. This was the manager of the shop, this is Homer (shows me a picture of his dog).

Air: The mascot. What did you call your first shop?

PS: It was called "Paul Smith," but it said "Vetement pour Homme." It was just a way of trying to be different within Nottingham at that time. Because it was just the start of the boutique boom, although in Nottingham there was only one boutique, which was the one I had been working at previously.

Air: So, at the time, what you were doing was really fresh, a bit unusual.

PS: Yes, very unusual. In fact, the key point was that nobody really liked the clothes I had in the shop because they were so different. I only opened on Friday and Saturday. The rest of the week I did other things to earn a living. Then on Fridays and Saturdays I just had these two wonderful days of selling clothes that were totally self-indulgent. But luckily, I didn't have to live from that shop, so I didn't have to change my ideas and start selling clothes that people really wanted. Slowly people came around to my way of thinking. Which was quite interesting.

Air: It seems then that it was a real labor of love for you at the time. Not a carefully calculated career. Something more for fun than anything serious.

PS: Right. And slowly it turned around. And then I slowly - self-taught - I slowly started to be able to design myself and just mastered the work, the pattern-making, the construction of clothes, and my girlfriend, Pauline, she was trained as a fashion designer, so she was always helping me a lot.

Air: There are, at last count, 232 Paul Smith shops world-wide, with more in Japan than both North America and the UK combined. To what do you attribute your popularity in Japan?

PS: I think through the help of people like Kumi (Smith's PR/rep person in Tokyo), who I have known all the time I've been coming to Japan in the beginning, and a mutual friend of ours, called Gates Yoshida, right from the beginning I met really interesting people in the press, interesting graphic designers, so right from the beginning I had the opportunity of giving my personality to people, and people really embraced it. Obviously the clothes, my personality, the fact that I'm willing to work very hard, the fact that I've been to Japan many times, so it's a combination of everything. I think, without being swell-headed, I think it's personality probably. I don't know what do you think? (He asks Kumi).

Kumi: Even the staff at the licensing company, they really want to work for him. I think Japanese people really like to work for somebody they find pleasure in working for, more for "somebody," than for money. Paul has a very strong core of energy and is very positive. He is always kind to people, he treats everyone the same. And young people realize that he's true. And [the] press really like him.

Air: Anything else?

PS: I think it's a good combination of hard work, teamwork, and obviously good design, I hope, and also just the fact that with the press, if you were to interview a lot of designers, all they're going to talk about is clothes, but I have a big interest in architecture, the arts, photography, so you know, I can also contribute in other areas. So, maybe because I've got more conversation or something. I'm not sure.

Air: Tell us about the True Brit Exhibition, which has been touring the World.

PS: The exhibition is really about giving inspiration to young designers and young business people, and it was originally curated by the Design Museum [of] London. And it was quite interesting because it was curated by the Education Department, and the idea was that the exhibition would give energy and ideas and a sense of optimism to young designers. So 'you can find inspiration in everything, and, if you can't, you're not looking properly, that's what this is really all about - just using your eyes and not going around copying because there's a like a disease of copying. Everybody is imitating everybody. Every magazine is copying each other. Every radio station is copying each other. Every designer is copying each other. So trying to have individuality and newness is the key point to the exhibition.

Air: So you're interested in inspiring non-designers too aren't you?

PS: Yeah, and also people related to design, young entrepreneurs and young business people as well so they can learn to work together. And [the exhibition] is really a little bit of history and a little bit of how I work. It's not a retrospective. You know a lot of designers like Armani and Versace have had retrospectives, you know, the dress from '74, the dress from '75, the dress from '76, and it's not like that.

Air: Not so much a history of Paul Smith and Paul Smith fashion, but an exhibition to inspire.

PS: That's right - it's exactly that. And that everyday objects and everyday things can inspire you for graphic design, photography, for t-shirts. Just use your eyes and hopefully you'll find some inspiration.

Air: Much of the content of True Brit was really "personal" stuff. Not the kind of thing we would expect at this kind of collection.

PS: Well, the way my exhibition has been described is as "incredibly honest." "An honest exhibition." People have said "You're open about how you get your ideas, where your ideas come from, showing clothes that people probably could copy, but just being honest, you know [showing] school reports. Showing pictures of you with big ears at 12 years of age, is pretty honest. I think that it's just that I'm trying to say to people just be normal, just chill out, relax, don't worry, life's short so just be yourself, and if you're yourself often it can turn into fantastic things as well.

Air: Aside from inspiring the next generation of designers, True Brit is in many ways like a primer on the "How to" of the design process. It's more than just about drawing sketches and stitching clothes, isn't it?

PS: Well, one of the most interesting parts of the exhibition actually is the toy-model conveyor belt. It tries to show in a very child-like way, in a simple way, what the process is from beginning to end: from the initial ideas, to about developing the ideas, about getting a balance of a clothes collection. You can't only do very fashionable things or classical things, but you've got to have a balance of the two. Making patterns, making samples, having a fashion show, producing the things. It's a visual way of showing the process, because often I've found that young designers just think it's about doing fancy drawings and they forget that you have to buy the fabric and make the cloth, make the goods beautifully and ship them around the world and get paid and all sorts of things.

Air: Being a "designer" is about a lot more than just "design" then.

PS: Yeah, sure. And I noticed that it's very important to try to stress that, because in this competitive world it's more than just about clothes. It's about a quick response to things, an awareness, never thinking you've made it because a real danger with fashion is that as soon as you put your back in the chair and think, "I've been in Vogue, I've been on television," somebody's overtaken you in the fast lane.

Air: So, you can't rest on your laurels?

PS: No way, at all, ever! You either stop, or keep going at a 100%, but you can never go down to 70, because someone will overtake you.

Air: Seven days a week, 24 hours a day.

PS: Right. And I'm like that.

Air: You're very busy and energetic, going into your office everyday in London. You must really enjoy your work to keep going at this pace. Is working with the clothes themselves the thing that you enjoy the most?

PS: Well, unfortunately for me, a lot of the time - because I'm the major shareholder in the business - unfortunately, I have to spend a lot of time ...Next page

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