'You've never really made it in fashion. Nobody cares how good you used to be. It's about today and tomorrow.'
Describing his journey from leaving school at fifteen with undiagnosed dyslexia to his life changing accident that would end his dream of becoming a racing cyclist, Sir Paul's journey has been anything but conventional. From his immersion in the strange new world of the 60s London art scene to meeting the love of his life, Pauline, who would set him on a path towards building the global fashion empire. After fifty years of continual trading, Paul still goes to his shopfloor every Saturday to meet customers.
Filled with his signature wit, warmth and eccentric flair, Paul takes us from the humble beginnings of his first tiny shop in a Nottingham alleyway - tucked behind a dark, damp corridor - to opening his first shop on Floral Street. His stories of dressing rock stars, actors, and athletes and designing identical black suits for David Bowie's four-piece band gives us a unique perspective on British fashion, art, music culture in the last half century.
He opens up about the turning point of his career in 1982, when he took a bold leap into the Japanese market and how this experience not only transformed his outlook on customer service but led him to establish a one-of-a-kind licensing agreement that remains in place to this day. The book will be filled with his business wisdom, some of which has become very popular on social media.
At the heart of it all is his wife, Pauline, his muse, mentor and confidante - the woman who shaped his life and career. A student at the Royal College of Art, she introduced Paul to visual arts, cinema, and took him to his first couture shows in Paris, including the groundbreaking show where Saint Laurent launched le smoking, the first ever trouser suit for women.
This is the story of a truly unique British icon whose company went global and how a young boy from a modest upbringing in Nottingham, guided by his father's lasting message of hard work and repairing everything by hand, became a symbol of innovation and creativity.
