Willi Smith - Why Doesn't He Get More Respect?

Willi Smith - Why Doesn\'t He Get More Respect?

I have a NOS Williwear suit that I just listed and after searching Ebay am
puzzled that this designer does not garner more respect.

I've read his bio, which includes his Coty award and a couple of other awards, and how important he was during the
80s.......so what gives?

Sue

 

I have a willi wear pair of harem pants from the 80s, and I remember he was HUGE in the mid - late 80s. I think the label went defunct when he died of AIDS, somewhere around 1990ish? He had been one of the few AFrican American fashion designers to make it big. Perhaps he wasn't important for a long enough period of time to be remembered and sought after....

 

I have a Willi Smith top, and then also have/had seen Willi Smith in a few stores up until ..i don't know ...I am thinking 2001 (and that's the last time I think I was aware of it). Could it be possible that the label still went on/was licensed out until it fizzled out, or was it someone else named Willi SMith that had nothing to do with the original.

Well, i remember that my husband knew one of the buyers for the TJX corp (TJMaxx, Marshalls, AJ Wright, Homegoods) and I had seen Willi Smith there last. The buyer told him that they don't buy things that were held for 3 years+, they went to the markets, etc, and bought up the remainders that were overorders or at the end of the retail/collection season, and then actually sold them 1-3 month down the road when people would actually be wearing them so you found a coat in December and not in August.

Anyways, the point is - there was some Willi Smith label current at that time, and the lag time could not have been more than 4-5 months after when they were made...so leads me to believe that either it is a different Willi Smith or the label was somehow still around.

??

 

I found a pretty complete bio of Willi Smith the other
night (he died in 1987), outlines his label and marketing and also speaks of his partner.

Willi Smith

Sue

 

He's another talented designer who died too young and unfortunately had his name licensed to death. I believe this label is now the house brand for TJ Maxx --- I can't recall ever seeing it for sale anywhere else in recent years. Like Pierre Cardin, Halston, Bill Blass et al, it's hard to get a lot of respect and attention to their earlier pieces when there's so much licensed dreck out there.,

 

So, I'm mistaken that this is a suit from when he was still alive then? I thought it was later 80s, but no?

Sue