At the time of his death, in 1987, Willi Smith was considered one of the most successful young black fashion designers in America. Throughout his career, he created smart, tailored sportswear for women, designing for men in later years. These clothes were consistently injected with whimsy and irreverence.
Smith’s innovative, affordable garments, which Americans who weren’t rich and famous could enjoy, earned the title “Street Couture.” The arts scene exploding around SoHo, where Smith lived, inspired him to create clothes with a playful, yet entirely grown-up exuberance.
Smith arrived at Parsons on two scholarships in 1965, eventually dropping out to freelance in the fashion industry. He began designing for Digits Sportswear, where he met Laurie Mallet, with whom he founded his own womenswear line in 1976, WilliWear. Smith was mentored by the incomparable Arthur McGee.
The hallmark of WilliWear’s aesthetic was reasonably priced, comfortable garments in natural fabrics and vivid, mixed prints. His clothes found mass appeal among a new generation of American women who entered the workforce in the ‘70s and ‘80s.
Smith designed WilliWear’s seasonal collections for 11 years, and was the first designer to house womenswear and menswear under the same brand. WilliWear was sold in over 500 doors, and was grossing over $25 million a year by 1986.
In 1971, Smith became the youngest designer to be nominated for a Coty Award, eventually winning the Coty American Fashion Critics’ Award for Women’s Fashion, in 1983.
“I’m trying to make things look more classic without making them boring,” Smith once said in the New York Times. Balanced with an endearing sense of humor, Smith remained committed to his creative vision, saying, “My customers are growing up and I think I am too.”
Smith died of pneumonia in 1987, after contracting a parasitic disease in India, which he’d spent years visiting for work. An autopsy later revealed, however, that Smith had AIDS.
A year after Smith’s death, David Dinkins, at the time Manhattan borough president, proclaimed February 23rd “Willi Smith Day.”
A WilliWear suit is featured in the Black Fashion Designers exhibition, on view now at FIT.
* Editor’s Note: Fashion Flashback is a new series looking at late designers who have had a significant impact on fashion. In honor of Black History Month, we kicked the series off with Willi Smith.
