Paul Smith, originally from Nottingham is one of the leading UK designers. Due to studying in Nottingham, which was his hometown, I have always been interested in finding out more about how he began his career and what inspired him, so when I was given the opportunity to watch this BBC documentary, I was really excited.
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The documentary is very factual and tells us a lot about Paul Smith's background into designing, and what processes he goes through when creating and advertising new fashion items. When Paul first started out, he explains that he couldn't afford patterned fabrics, but wanted to make the plain, white men's shirt different from other brands. Instead, he added fancy buttons and interesting linings in order to create a wearable product which still had a small quirkiness to it, making his brand have an immediate unique selling point. I think that this has developed to allow Paul Smith to become very popular for everyday tailoring, as his products are not a copycat of other brands, and offer something new, exciting and unique to a somewhat ordinary male clothing item. Paul Smith also admits that he is unable to draw his own accurate designs, and so employs someone else to do this for him. Therefore, as a designer, he is very hands on and excellent at translating his visions to others, having a unique ability to communicate to people of all ages.
I think this gives hope to aspiring designers who think that they are unable to fulfil their dreams due to them not having the fine art skills to put their ideas on paper. Paul is definitely an inspiration to many people in this way, and offers something new and unique to his creative style and processes. I also really love how the film shows Paul Smith visiting Portobello market in London each Friday to find inspiration for new colour schemes or designs. This makes Paul Smith much more hands on than any other designer I have ever seen, and made me respect him much more. Many designers employ people to do this for them, however this makes his designs more personal and is almost more rewarding, as he has done all the research himself.
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The film continues to show Paul Smith on his journey to promoting new lines of fashion. I found that this area of the film was much more tedious, as was very factual instead of looking at the different processes to create a finalised product or looking at different jobs people on the Paul Smith team have, making me less concentrated due to not being as intrigued about the film (woops!). This therefore made the film repetitive, as it often looked at Paul Smith's background into fashion, as a sort of biography. Although this was quite interesting to learn about him as a designer to begin with, I did not enjoy it as much as other films which were much more quick paced, reflecting the fashion industry, like September Issue!
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However, I did really like that the area of the film where Paul is followed around Paris. Here he is shown on his bike, travelling the city and taking images of everyday street activities, cafes and funfairs in order to get inspiration for prints, scarfs, sleeves and pockets. This reiterates the idea which has been put across in all the films I have watched since being on the fcp course, that inspiration really can come from anywhere, and the best way to find it, it to go out and observe the world. This adds to the personal factors of Paul Smith's designs, as further highlights the idea that he does much of his research and work himself.
Overall, I do not think I would be watching this documentary again. I think the film makers could have made the life of Paul Smith and his thoughts and creations much more entertaining. If you're planning on learning lots on to how Paul Smith began as a designer, or what his style is like, then this film is 100% worth watching, but from a promotion and communication perspective, I found it did not really teach me anything else about the fashion industry itself. I also did not see much of Nottingham City during the film, something I had hoped for. If the filmmakers did want to focus on his background, I think this would be a great way to show where he began and what gave him inspiration for his unique and colourful trimmings and designs. However, the film really made me fall in love with Paul Smith, showing him as such a friendly, funny guy - a really positive standout of the film!
#fcpreflection
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