Willi Smith, born February 29, 1948, in Philadelphia, was an African American fashion designer and a contemporary of fellow African American fashion designer Patrick Kelly. He is widely recognized for coining the term “streetwear” and for designing stylish yet affordable clothes, including the oversize and casual silhouette that became the foundation of hip hop fashion. Regarding his style, Smith explained, “I don’t design clothes for the queen, but the people who wave at her as she goes by.”[1] Pointing to his background, he also commented: “Being Black has a lot to do with my being a good designer. 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.”[2]
Originally interested in painting, Smith took a course in fashion illustration at the Philadelphia Museum College of Art (now University of the Arts) in 1964 and went on to earn two scholarships to enroll in a fashion design program at Parsons School of Design in New York in 1965. He freelanced as a sketch artist while attending Parsons and worked for Canadian fashion designer Arnold Scaasi during this time. After two years at Parsons, Smith worked for Bobbie Brooks, Talbots, Digits, and other fashion companies. In 1969 he became the lead designer for the sportswear label at Digits, where he met his future business partner Laurie Mallet in 1970. Smith originally tried to launch a fashion line with his sister, the actress and model Toukie Smith, in 1973.[3] In 1976 he successfully established his women’s fashion line, WilliWear Ltd., with Mallet and launched WilliWear Men in 1978. Smith preferred natural fibers for his designs and was known to travel to India to supervise production. In 1980 his fall collection was presented at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, for which he used Ailey dancers as models. In 1983 he launched his autumn-winter collection called “Street Couture.” WilliWear grossed $25 million in 1986, and that year he also designed the suits worn by the groom and groomsmen for the wedding of former President John F. Kennedy’s daughter Caroline. Smith designed the homecoming court gowns for the 1987 Spike Lee joint School Daze, about Black college life at the fictional HBCU Mission College.
Smith died April 17, 1987, due to pneumonia complicated by the parasitic disease shigella, which he contracted during one of his trips to India; during his hospitalization he was also diagnosed as HIV positive. The following year, former mayor of New York David Dinkins declared February 23 as Willi Smith Day. The company opened a store on Fifth Avenue in New York, but it shut down in the 1990s. The womenswear operations subsequently closed, and WilliWear Ltd. filed for bankruptcy in 1990.
Willi Smith was inducted into the Fashion Walk of Fame in 2002.
PMA Collection
Notes
[1] Smith quoted in Elan 2020.
[2] Ibid.
[3] Romero 2012, 42.
References
Cameron, Alexandra Cunningham, ed. 2020. Willi Smith: Street Couture. New York: Rizzoli Electa and Cooper Hewitt.
Elan, Priya. 2020. “Willi Smith Remembered: The Designer Who Introduced Streetwear to the Catwalk.” The Guardian, June 8. Accessed February 1, 2022. https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2020/jun/08/willi-smith-williwear-african-american-streetwear-catwalk.
Romero, Elena. 2012. Free Stylin': How Hip Hop Changed the Fashion Industry. Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger.
Stegemeyer, Anne. 1988. “Smith, Willi.” In Who's Who in Fashion. 2nd ed. New York: Fairchild Publications.
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