“Being black has a lot to do with my being a good designer. My eye will go quicker to what a pimp is wearing than to someone in a gray suit and tie. 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.”
—Willi Smith
On this day we honor trailblazing designer Willi Smith. One of the fashion industry’s most successful young designers, he was known for spirited and trendy clothes. He made inexpensive sportswear under the WilliWear label and was part of a wave of young black fashion designers who came to prominence in the 1970’s. “I don’t design clothes for the Queen,” Smith once said, ”but for the people who wave at her as she goes by.”
In 1986, his 11-year-old company, whose line appeared in more than 500 department and specialty stores, had more than $25 million in gross sales. In 1987 he designed the clothes worn by groom Edwin A. Schlossberg at the wedding of Caroline Kennedy, President Kennedy’s daughter.
