Shenzhen Sea World Culture & Arts Center　　Photo courtesy of Maki and Associates

Organised by The Design Museum in London, “Hello, My Name is Paul Smith: Touring Exhibition” is now showing in the Huashan 1914 Creative Park in Taipei until 3 September. This is the fourth leg of the exhibition around the world – and the second in Asia – having been earlier staged in Britan, Belgium and Japan. The exhibition is a highlight of the designer’s collections, which includes classical fashion collections, creative products and photography. The exhibition hall not only recreates the designer’s office and studio, but also uses the newest audio and visual aids to help audiences to take in the designer’s glamour and talent. Through this exhibition, people can understand more how this artist from a city in Central England uses his artistic talent and entrepreneurship to pioneer himself as the world’s leading fashion icon.

Who is Paul Smith?

Paul Smith was born in Nottingham in 1946. When he was young he worked in a local clothing warehouse where he became familiar with the production process of the garment industry. In 1970, with a small amount of savings and support from his friends, he opened a small shop. Later on, he went to the fashion capital Paris and rose to fame when he showed his first menswear collection in 1976.With a glorious homecoming, Smith opened a shop in London’s Covent Garden in 1979.  His collections were favoured by people from all walks of life. His brand was increasingly well-known and his customer base was growing. Smith’s forte is to combine traditional aesthetics with modern creativity. He stresses that the design has to be “classics with a twist”. His designs embrace high fashion and casual wear as well as accessories. With a strong British sense of humour, he established a brand with unique style – eccentric but not frivolous, extraordinary yet not exaggerating.

Multi-faceted creativity

With over 1,500 items, the exhibition perfectly reflects Smith’s funny, curious and passionate personality. What first greeted the eye of the visitors is the recreation of Smith’s first shop in Nottingham, which is only nine square meters in size. Small and windowless, the small shop is the starting point of Smith’s career which has led him to become a leading designer in the fashion industry. Next, you will see the art walls with Smith’s drawings since he was a child as well as pictures and images he has collected. All these tell the changes of his style overtime and his preferences when it comes to collecting art. Moreover, the recreations of his office and his hotel room, together with the installations of LED display, show that the organiser has made good use of different spaces and transformed them accordingly so as to highlight Smith’s endless stream of thought-provoking inspirations. All pieces of work are so eye-catching and inspiring.

The exhibition also highlights the decorations of Paul Smith shops around the world. The pink building in LA’s Melrose Avenue and the iron flagship store in London’s Mayfair especially highlight the designer’s unique aesthetic sense. Among all items designed by Smith, the creative use of vibrant colours and stripes has become his signature. From the classic tailoring of his own brand to designing automobile and coffee pots for other brands, we can see a new interpretation of colours and stripes. Smith has especially recreated some of his items for the exhibition in Taipei. Over 70,000 pieces of buttons in different colours are displayed on an 18-square metre wall. The visual effect is exceptionally striking.

When pop culture meets art institutions

In recent years, it’s not uncommon to see art and cultural institutions to hold exhibitions about fashion. In 2013, London’s Victoria and Albert Museum launched the “David Bowie Is” exhibition and attracted millions of visitors. In 2015, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York held “China: Through the Looking Glass” and it has become the fifth most visited exhibition of the museum. In 2017, the “Ambiguously Yours: Gender in Hong Kong Popular Culture” exhibition held in M+ examines the social development in Hong Kong with a new angle. The content of all these exhibitions is different from what is showcased traditionally in the museums. They attempt to bring popular culture to the sphere of art and culture. Through the means of visual and audio, fashion and accessories, and graphic design, the audiences are able to connect their everyday life to art and culture and make an interaction between them.