Smith, Willi

NAME: Willi Smith

Biography:

His wikipedia entry is here: [[1]]

Willi Smith, the Philadelphia-born fashion designer whose young, lively, moderately priced "street couture" clothes made him one of Seventh Avenue's sportswear stars, died Friday. He was 39. Mr. Smith had been ailing from a parasitic infection that he picked up during a recent month-long visit to India to buy fabric for his designs, according to Mark Bozek, spokesman for Williwear Ltd., Mr. Smith's company.

[APPROPRIATE TRIBUTE TO THE LATE WILLI SMITH]

Source: Roy H. Campbell, Inquirer Staff Writer They remembered Willi with songs. They remembered Willi with words. And then they remembered Willi with his own creations in a blazing fashion show that rekindled the spirit of one of the world's fashion greats. Four months after his death, 100 Philadelphians yesterday paid tribute to their native son, designer Willi Smith, at the Afro-American Historical and Cultural Museum with a commemoration attended by 11 members of his family. "This is to let hisPublished on 1987-08-17, Page E01, Philadelphia Inquirer, The (PA)

Willi Smith, Clothes Designer; Creator of Vivid Sportswear

Willi Smith, one of the fashion industry's most successful young designers, known for spirited and trendy clothes, died of pneumonia Friday at Mount Sinai Hospital. He was 39 years old and lived in Manhattan.

Mr. Smith was admitted for tests to the hospital's intensive-care unit Thursday night with pneumonia, complicated by shigella, a parasitic disease. He had been ill about three weeks, said Mark Bozek, a spokesman for Mr. Smith.

He apparently picked up the parasite on a recent monthlong visit to India, where the lightweight cotton fabric Mr. Smith used for many of his clothes was manufactured, Mr. Bozek said.

Mr. Smith, who made inexpensivesportswear under the WilliWear label, was part of a wave of young black fashion designers who came to prominence in the late 1960's. Last year, his 11-year-old company, whose line appeared in more than 500 department and specialty stores, had more than $25 million in gross sales. Love of Art

Mr. Smith's apartment in the Tribeca section of Manhattan, with its collection of African, Oriental and contemporary art, reflected a love of art that gave his simple, relaxed, often oversized creations an extra dimension, especially in the unusual colors he used, including jade, green and coral.

He numbered many artists among his friends. For one of them, Christo, Mr. Smith designed 600 uniforms for workers who helped the artist wrap the Pont Neuf, a bridge in Paris, with pink material in 1985.

Mr. Smith, who won the Coty American Fashion Critics' Award for Women's Fashion in 1983, created a stir at the July wedding of Caroline Kennedy, the daughter of the late President, and Edwin A. Schlossberg, with a nontraditional touch in the groom's clothing, a navy blue linen suit with a silver tie.

Afterward, Mr. Smith was asked to design the wedding gown of a comic strip heroine, Mary Jane Watson, for her marriage to Marvel's Amazing Spiderman.

He thought that was hysterical, Mr. Bozek said. He took the business of having fun very seriously.and it showed very much in his clothes. Clothes 'For the People

I don't design clothes for the Queen, Mr. Smith once said, but for the people who wave at her as she goes by.

But at a fall and winter fashion showing earlier this month, Mr. Smith, who was the first to mix and match plaids and stripes and colors, especially in men's clothing, showed a more traditional, tailored line, indicating a new maturity. It's time to grow up, he said.

Born in Philadelphia on Feb. 19, 1948, Mr. Smith often joked that there was always more clothing than food in his house because his grandmother, mother, and sister were clothes conscious. He attended the Parsons School of Design on a scholarship.

Mr. Smith is survived by his sister, Touki Smith, who often modeled his designs, a brother, Norman Smith, both of Manhattan, and his grandmother, Gladys Bush of Philadelphia.

A funeral service is scheduled for 6:30 P.M. tomorrow at the Frank E, Campbell Funeral Chapel on Madison Avenue. A memorial service is planned later in the week.

Photo of Willi Smith (NYT/bill Cunningham)

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Date of Birth: 2/29/1948

Date of Death (delete if non-applicable): 4/17/1987

Age at Death (delete if non-applicable): 39

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