The newest issue of
The Rake has arrived and it features none other than our very own Sir Paul (Smith). It's a great article which touches on his modesty (and his initial reluctance to accept knighthood), to his business philosophy and insistence that each of his "shops" have their own identity and not be a cookie-cutter mold from one city to the next, to his savvy business acumen (he has amassed over a quarter billion pound personal fortune). Some of our favorite quotes/excerpts:
On selling the unexpected in his shops:
I was the first person in the world to sell Dyson vacuum cleaners. When James Dyson was starting out, he couldn't get anybody to stock his vacuum cleaners. And then, I had them in my clothes shop on Floral Street (in Covent Garden, London) and it was quite amazing, I sold something like 39 vacuum cleaners in a men's clothes shop, because the type of customer that was coming in could identify with the very innovative design, the colour . . . What I hope to do with my shops is just challenge your little taste buds, and also put a big question mark over your head sometimes, like, 'Why has he got 47 plastic gnomes in the corner?' And the answer is, there's no reason why. It's just because. Because, because. . . .
On knighthood:
I thought really long and hard about whether accepting actually, because it's not really my personality. I'm a really down-to-earth person so having the knighthood on one hand is delightful because you've worked hard all your life and mum and dad in heaven would look down and go, 'Well done, son.' . . . My staff were ecstatic about it and Nottingham, my hometown, was ecstatic about it. It was only me that wasn't so sure about it. Everybody else around me seemed to be very sure about it! Well, my wife wasn't so sure about it either. She never uses it, ever-ever-ever. She completely just goes rosy red when anybody calls her Lady Smith.
On his design philosophy:
While Paul Smith is renowned for edgy use of colour and eccentric flourishes, his clothing is usually eminently wearable - and, by extension, sellable. This, he says, is one of the key factors in 'making it all work.'
"You can always get the balance between things that are wearable but that still have got personality and a point of view. I always find it really odd that in so many fashion shows, it's bare breasts, or antlers, or other really obscure strange things, and I don't really understand why they do that. . . . I might do a suit in bright pink, which we'll sell 50 of, but then the same suit will be available in black, navy, camel, which we'll sell a large quantity of. So it's getting the balance right between the attention-seeking pieces and the rent-paying pieces, and that's what my skill has always been.
On being childlike:
I hope I have a childlike approach to life, not childish, but childlike . . . . and that's just where you've got an open mind to things; you don't always go down the obvious routes. You think more laterally, you think, 'Why do we have to do it like that? Can't we do it like this?' Children, because they haven't had much experience of life or education yet, they're so open and very honest with their observations. They'll ask, 'Why is that man black?' or 'Why is that person fat?' I'm not saying I go around and say things like that, but I think, you know, sometimes you clutter your head with experience and things you've learned, but if you can be a little bit more open, then you've got a chance of being more inventive.
Next time you're in, take The Rake out into the courtyard, sit down and read the entire article. It's a great read and it will give you a greater appreciation for the man and his many collections. You'll then understand why some of his shirts only have one button on a button down collar (which "normally" have two buttons).
