Good Morning POU! I’m about to find me a classic WilliWear tailored jacket right now. I feel I need to have one in my closet.
American designer Willi Smith was the streetwear pioneer. After dropping out of Parsons, Smith began designing for Digits Sportswear, where he met Laurie Mallet. In 1976 he founded his own line with Mallet, WilliWear, which “was a brand that you would see everyone wearing on the street,”.
Known for his reasonably priced pieces, Smith didn’t “design clothes for the Queen, but rather clothes for the people lined up to wave at her”. WilliWear was ahead of its time, mixing elements of relaxed fit sportswear with the high-end tailoring.
Smith designed WilliWear’s seasonal collections for 11 years, and was the first designer to house womenswear and menswear under the same brand. New York City was his inspiration.
“Being Black has a lot to do with my being a good designer,” he said. “Most of these designers who have to run to Paris for color and fabric combinations should go to church on Sunday in Harlem. It’s all right there.”
At the time of his death due to complications from AIDS in 1987, Willi Smith was known as one of the most successful young designers in America.