Object Timeline

  • We acquired this object.

1984

  • Work on this object began.

2020

2025

  • You found it!

Shorts

This is a Shorts. It was designed by Willi Smith and made for WilliWear Ltd..

This object is not part of the Cooper Hewitt's permanent collection. It was able to spend time at the museum on loan from Doreen Ford-Wilde as part of Willi Smith: Street Couture.

It is dated 1984. Its medium is cotton. It is a part of the department.

“One day, Willi and I were driving in Bombay [now Mumbai], when he suddenly asked the driver to stop at a traffic circle: he loved the shorts the traffic policeman was wearing. He asked me to get the shorts for him and adapted these humble shorts, called the ‘Bombay Short’ in his next collection.”
—Vijay Agarwal, chairman and founder, Creative Group Inc.

It is credited Courtesy of Doreen Ford-Wilde.

This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibition Willi Smith: Street Couture.

There are restrictions for re-using this image. For more information, visit the Smithsonian’s Terms of Use page.

If you would like to cite this object in a Wikipedia article please use the following template:

<ref name=CH>{{cite web |url=https://www-4.collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/2318802556/ |title=Shorts |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=11 February 2025 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>