Paul Smith is an influential fashion designer that is known worldwide for his passion for bold colours and iconic stripes.
If you haven’t heard of Paul Smith you must have been living under a rock. I’ve got an entire exhibition to show and excite you, called the Hello Paul exhibition at the Design Museum.
Lauren and myself decided to take a trip to Hello Paul and see what all the hype for the exhibition was about. We headed over to London Bridge and captured a cool view of Tower Bridge en route.
We even bumped into this suited and booted guy as we made our way to the Design Museum.
As we entered the exhibition we were greeted by a small pink space, we passed through to find out this was the size of Paul’s first store in London’s Covent Garden. The scale of the store was a teeny space that you’d find hard to swing a cat let alone serve customers.
Through the store we were introduced to two large walls clad in canvases, photographs and drawings which are all part of Paul’s inspirational collection.
I fell in love with the quirky representation of art, thoughts and humorous graphics that laced the walls. I’d love to adopt this idea in a hallway as a feature wall.
Frames of all different shapes, sizes and finishes filled with colourful interesting pieces of art. It took hours to soak in all the unusual and creative elements.
Some of the collections made us giggle.
We noticed repetitive elements in the collection such as planes, 1950s adverts and of course splashes of Paul’s striped colours.
Then we bumped into a few Paul’s popping out!
After watching a short film on his thoughts behind his latest fashion show we checked out some of his memorable pieces.
The splashes of fluorescent colours represented the fun and eye-catching designs Paul manages to introduce into all designs. Even a plain suit has bold fabrics hidden inside. I love the concept of making each piece stand out, even with just a small detail like coloured stitching on a plain dress.
I loved the detailed patterned items – being a print addict myself.
Next up one of my favourite walls – ever!
A multi-coloured wall stitched with buttons.
We then admired photographs of Paul’s stores, all of which are completely different in design but hold a relationship through his designs with fun elements.
The exhibition continued to surprise us as we turned each corner to find a new exciting section to soak in.
We found ourselves surrounded by objects that were all part of collaborations Paul has with various brands. Some of which I already knew about like the rugs for the The Rug Company.
And some partnerships I didn’t know about, like HP Sauce.
The cutest striped teapot I have come across.
Funky water bottles for the collaboration with Evian.
Lastly but not least – my dream car. A multi-coloured striped Mini that can be spotted from miles away. I’d happily speed off in those wheels, tooting my horn.
Lauren and I took a peek at Paul’s design studio, masses of fabrics, mood boards, threads, paint, drawings, prints and hanging paper templates for clothing.
We realised earlier on that Paul is a keen photographer, this was presented in the inspirational walls at the beginning of the exhibition. We got to see snaps Paul has captured.
Plus a cool collection of invites and notes he had received over the years.
We entered the next section to find a cardboard bedroom, which in fact represented Paul’s first showroom. A Paris hotel room, in which Paul once used to showcase his pieces and sadly only one person visited (but still made an order).
We watched clips of prints and details that inspired Paul or were part of previous collections.
Finally, Paul’s office arrangement. A space crammed with objects and hardly a clean surface in sight. There were books, toys, bicycles, bills, letters, and fabrics – anything you can possibly imagine was in that space.
But judging by Paul’s designs and inspirational approach, being surrounded by such chaos must be the way his designs flow best.
We both left the exhibition feeling amazed by how creative and cool Paul’s design approach is. It felt a bit like having a nose inside his brain and seeing how his thoughts and ideas translate into designs.
I felt inspired to collect cool prints and start my own inspirational wall.
I recommend going and saying hello to Paul, take a trip to the Design Museum, it’s an exhibition not to be missed.
