God, that's a nice fabric, isn't it? That one's beautiful. Look at that. Your iconic logo of the multicolors. What was—yeah, there we go. Can you tell everyone the story behind the multicolored? Who would you want to play you in a movie if they did a Paul Smith biopic? And what would the title of the movie be?
Guys, welcome to episode 3 of season 2, Talk in Style, and I'm here with a legendary figure, sir.
Hello everybody. Sir Paul Smith. Welcome
to my shop in Worcester Street in Soho.
Tell us about yourself and how did you get into fashion?
I mean, I got into fashion by accident because I literally was—I used to be a racing cyclist. So I fell off the bike one day. Well, I hit a car and was in hospital for three months. And when I came out, I discovered the local art school and they were fashion students, art students, photography. And I thought, 'Oh, I wonder if I could do that for a living.' And then slowly I got a job in a shop and then eventually opened my own shop. And the rest, as they say, is history.
How old were you though when this all started? When you fell off your bike?
18. 18. Yeah, 18. And I started my own business when I was in my early 20s.
So, we're standing here in your shop. Could you tell us about the collection this year and what was the inspiration behind it?
Yeah. I mean, this collection, which is autumn winter 25, was loosely based on two things. One was my dad, because my father was an amateur photographer. And so we found a big box of his photographs and this is actually one—a photograph of a flower. Which then we, in our print department, adjusted, made it in a different color, enlarged it. So it was very much about photography. And then these little prints here—my dad was a great... Do you use the word 'doodle'?
Yes, we do doodle. Yes, we do.
He used to doodle a lot. So on an envelope, on a piece of paper, and so we took some of his little drawings, we took some of his photography, and then the other thing was taking inspiration from photographers. And so a lot of photographers used to wear corduroy because it was very practical. I'm talking about, you know, in the 1960s, '70s, '80s, which was when my dad was around. So things like a corduroy blazer would be something that would be very hardwearing. And when you're on the floor and you're taking pictures, you know, it was just a useful fabric. So that was the start of it.
Photography and film, you know. God, that's a nice fabric, isn't it? Oh, beautiful. Look at that. And the other thing was not styles that were like a traditional—I mean, obviously this is a traditional looking jacket. And this is more like the jacket I'm wearing myself, which is based on a work jacket, but making a work jacket in a beautiful tailoring fabric. So this is a fabric that's from Italy, but the style could be like a railway worker's jacket, like a... Yeah, like a work jacket really.
What I wanted to ask you in person actually—your iconic logo of the multicolors. What was—yeah, there we go. Can you tell everyone the story behind the multicolored?
Yeah. In the 1990s—before you were all born—in the 1990s, I'd been working, you know, for a long time and always having to work with navy blue and white, burgundy and white. And then my orders luckily were starting to grow with various shops I was selling to around the world. And one day I had the opportunity of being able to design a stripe that had lots of colors in it. And I had it printed and made it into a shirt, and it sold very well. I just did it for one season. The following season they came back and said, 'Can we have that stripe?' And I said, 'Oh, no. I only did it for one season.' 'No, no, we want it again. We want it again.' A hundred years later, we are still doing the stripe.
Do you recognize this tie, by the way? This is you.
Oh, it says Paul Smith on it. Yeah.
Yeah. Look, I'll introduce you to... This is a made in England sweater. This one—a lot of the factories in England are now starting to reorganize themselves. And sadly, we used to make everything in England when I first started, and then we had to move everything more to Italy because sadly a lot of the factories were closing. Luckily, a lot of the factories are opening again now. And so we're very proud that we're making in England again.
