The Naked Lady is one of Paul Smith’s most iconic designs, originally developed by Archie Dickins, a British greeting card and later pin-up artist who was born in Balham, London in June 1907.
Archie painted private works from the 1940’s until his death in 2004 and he was in his 90’s when Paul Smith commissioned the ‘lady with phone’ which was Archie’s first commission for a fashion house. The naked lady was inspired by the Vegas girls painted onto US Airforce bomber planes to bring the pilots good luck, and also Congressmen, who would have the girls stitched and sewn inside their ties. More recently the former Prime Minister Tony Blair had the naked lady on the cuffs of his shirt.
While the ‘lady with phone’ is the most iconic design, Paul Smith selects seasonal naked ladies each season from Archie’s archive, with the cowgirl and blonde naked lady chosen for Spring/Summer 11.
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