Going His Own Way: Paul Smith Reflects on 50 Years of Love, Toil — and No Tears

It began with a jam jar. Paul Smith, one of postwar Britain’s most commercially successful independent designers, built — and continues to run — his fashion business with his grandmother’s jam jar in mind. “It was on the mantlepiece and when my granddad earned money, it used to go in there. And that was how you paced yourself with money for the week, for the month. There was nothing called borrowing,” said the 73-year-old Smith from his maelstrom of a conference room, where books, handmade gifts, paintings, and stuffed animals jostle with piles of cycling jerseys, toy cars, and the odd musical instrument. “My dad worked for himself, so it was very much about being down to earth and living within your means,” added Smith who grew up in Nottingham, England, and left school at 15 with the dream of becoming a professional cyclist. But life took a different turn. One of the wealthiest people in Britain, with an estimated net worth of 250 million pounds, according to the annual Sunday Times of London Rich List, Smith has an art collection filled with works by Banksy, David Hockney, Marc Quinn, and a bulging, international real estate portfolio. Yet success has done nothing to change his

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