Willi Smith - Fashion Legend

A young and inexperienced man has just graduated from design school and has his eyes set on the Big Apple. He has numerous opportunities to advance but he is somewhat arrogant and crass. He has come to believe that he is the greatest designer that this world will ever see.

He knows about the inner workings of the fashion industry and is well connected. He is conversant with the patterns and color schemes and has studied all the top stylist and celebrities.

Upon his daily routine, someone asks him who is Willi Smith and the future designer draws a complete blank. Little does he know but his knowledge of Willi Smith will prove to change his view on being a designer and trail blazer.

Born February 29, 1948 in Philadelphia, PA, Willi Smith was born into a family of fashionable beings and his parents passed along the mantle of fashion at an early age. Even though the family was what one would consider to be impoverished, the Smith’s imparted style and substance into their children.

Mrs. Smith would be found daily dressed to the nines and wouldn’t concern herself with the stares of onlookers and Mr. Smith would don oversized clothes, an influence that impacted Willi’s designs as well.

Willi would go on to attend Mastbaum Technical High School and concentrate in Commercial Art and would be at the top of his class. He would go on to attend Philadelphia College of Art with a degree in Fashion Illustration. He would eventually move to New York City, NY and attend Parsons School of Design.

While at Parsons, he had the privilege of studying under famed Arnold Scaasi. An extremely hard worker, he began to build a solid reputation by being what one would call a “trend setter.” Willi would often be seen sporting dreads as well as cutting edge patterns and bold prints.

Eventually he met up with Laurie Mallet, an old friend who at the time was selling shirts imported from India. At Mallet's suggestion, Smith accompanied her to India to design a collection at a factory near Bombay.

After much soul searching, Willi and Mallet would forge a partnership, with a company called WilliWear Limited. With Mallet as President and Smith as Vice President and designer, the tide had turned and Willi’s ship had come in. His designs were about to change the landscape of fashion as the world knew it. His patent design of a baggy fatigue with a high, wrapped waistband would soon became a staple known as the "WilliWear pant."






He would go on to showcase WilliWear Men, clothing that would incorporate casualness as well as formality. WilliWear would go on to net $25 Million in Gross Sales and influence communities and regions. In 1983, he would design the Groom and Groomsmen attire for the wedding of Socialite Caroline Kennedy and Edwin Schlossberg. He would eventually go on to win numerous awards and accolades.

One who loved to travel abroad to supervise production of WillieWear, Smith became infected with a parasitic disease and was diagnosed with pneumonia upon his return to the States. Sadly, Willi Smith passed away for complications of AIDS, a disease that he had no knowledge of having.

Even after his untimely death, Willi Smith designs have stood the test of time and will forever be a source of inspiration to those who dare to dream and design.

Willi Smith a FASHION LEGEND!!