Threads: My Life in Style by Sir Paul Smith — the autobiography of Britain’s most independent fashion designer, written with journalist Richard Williams.
Paul Smith left school at fifteen with dreams of becoming a professional cyclist. A crash at seventeen ended that path and opened another: art-school friends, a tiny windowless shop in Nottingham in 1970, and a life in clothes.
From that first day — £38 in the till, most of it spent by his future wife, Pauline — he built a global brand that still belongs, unusually, to its founder. Suits for Jack Nicholson and David Bowie. The famous stripe. Shops on several continents. A knighthood. And the determination, in an increasingly corporate industry, not to become like everyone else.
Threads is the story of that independence: Nottingham roots, colour, curiosity, and the long partnership with Pauline that he calls the highlight of his life. It is also a book of advice for anyone who wants to make something of their own — written as he turned eighty, still working, still collecting, still looking forward.
Classic British style, classic British story. Classic Paul Smith.
