Pat Ishmul

Question: what is Pat Ishmul an anagram for? Can you get it? Here's a clue: He's a fashion designer. Here's another: I love him, his work and his brand. Well, if you guessed Paul Smith, than give yourself a pat on the back. This post is basically going to consist of all things Paul Smith

Not only is he a fabulous designer, the main reason he is my favourite fashion personality is purely because he is a brilliant person. For Christmas I received Paul Smith A-Z and by the end of reading that book I felt like I had completely grasped his personality. He is very different to all the other designers in the industry, as he comes across as such a normal, down to earth guy who genuinely loves life and fashion. He's an ordinary chap, who happens to be extremely talented, and who also happens to be a Sir. Although he's a veteran compared to some of the new designers, he is still very prominent in the industry, and has more experience on working your way to the top than many others.

One thing that stood out to me about Paul Smith is that he pays attention to every little thing in life, and draws inspiration from it. In 2001 he published his first book called You Can Find Inspiration in Everything (and if you can't Look Again). I haven't got this book but it's on my list.Unfortunately, I can't say I give so much attention to the small things Paul does, but after reading the book I spoke about previously, I definitely improved.

One of the most astonishing things about Paul Smith is that his enter into the fashion world was completely accidental. Therefore, he didn't study it all his life,  nor did he try to take shortcuts to the top, he literally got their through hard work and tad of luck.

All his life he had been fascinated by riding bikes, and had planned to make it his career. Until one day he got a severe injury and couldn't cycle anymore. It was after this that he stumbled across some local art students in a pub who inspired him to get into art. This led to fashion.

 Within two years he had his own shop in Nottingham (his home city) with very few savings. He then went to tailoring courses and in 1976, he brought out his first menswear collection in Paris under his name. Despite these humble early beginnings, soon after this he opened several more shops in  London, and then New York. After this he soon endeavoured into womenswear, and also a children's collection.I guess you could say that all this combined was his door to the fashion industry, and you could also say the rest is history.

 In late 2013, Paul Smith put on an exhibition at the design museum simply called 'Hello, My Name is Paul Smith'. It a basically an exhibition which includes lots of archives and bits and bobs about Paul and his brand. If you like me, would like to go, it runs until June 2014, so there is still plenty of time to go.