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Thread started 03/22/05 2:14pm

ChiTownNPG

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This Man Makes The Clothes (Prince Mention)

http://www.suntimes.com/o...lie22.html

Source: SunTimes.com, March 22, 2005
By Mike Thomas

First, know this: The sleepwear wasn't his.

Michael Jackson's trusted fashion designer, Chicago native Willie Scott, didn't craft those formless pajama bottoms the legally beleaguered pop star wore as he gingerly inched his way into court earlier this month.

The other duds, though -- those are Scott's. Many of them, anyway. Or as Scott evasively puts it, "more than one." Like the dark blue suit and pearly silk vest Jackson wore last year to his first court date, when he danced atop his limo. Otherwise, demurs Scott, who's evasive because of a confidentiality agreement with Jackson, "I can't tell you." (However, it's been reported that he has been tapped to craft outfits for each day of Jackson's trial.)

On a recent evening, Scott arrived at the Four Seasons hotel in a dark blue five-button crepe suit (four buttons hidden, his label), which contrasted beautifully with reddish socks and square-toed chestnut lace-ups. Shirt: light-blue check pattern, French cuff, Milan-made. Matching tie: bow. Sturdy travel bag: Louis Vuitton. Head: shaved. Grooming: precise.

Dude, as the kids say, was fly.

"You probably will [seldom] see me in a bow tie," said the 44-year-old Scott, who also fashions fashions for the nattiest bow-tie guy on earth, Chicago-based Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan.

"You're talking about a clean guy. Impeccable," he said of Farrakhan, through whose son Jackson and Scott first connected. "As far as his wardrobe, [Farrakhan is] one of my clients who I really appreciate because he's so serious about his clothes. You can't get anything wrong. Everything has to be perfect. Which is a challenge, but it also keeps you on your toes, keeps you focused on what you're supposed to be doing."

Isiah's boyhood chum

Scott -- a former basketball pro himself who played overseas before retiring in 1995 -- also has dressed Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, Chicago-born pro hoops standout Tim Hardaway, and erstwhile Detroit Pistons superstar Isiah Thomas, the latter of whom he's known since childhood on Chicago's West Side. The two honed their jumpers and dunks in a traveling youth league at Martin Luther King Boys Club on West Washington. Back then, survival trumped style.

"When I open up the label and I see 'Willie Scott-designed,' when I see his name, it always brings me back home," said Thomas, now general manager of the New York Knicks. "And the place that I go is he and I walking the streets, sittin' in the hallway stranded, lookin' for a piece of food ... or sittin' at Al's beggin' for a hot dog, or hoping that somebody drops a french fry. He always brings me back home."

Thomas, of course, went on to college and pro stardom. On a different level, so did Scott. During a basketball stint in Italy, the world's epicenter of fashion, he learned basic tailoring from some designer mates at a Milan fashion house. "You only play once a week [overseas], so I had a lot of leisure time," Scott said. "And I would just go in there and I was spending all my money getting clothes made."

Eventually, he began hanging out on a regular basis, taking measurements and helping patrons choose fabrics. He also learned to sew. "I knew then that that's what I wanted to do," he says. "It was so clear that God had lined it up."

Now his seven-year-old company, Willie Scott Custom Clothier, is thriving, and word of his talent is spreading.


A couple of years ago, Prince commissioned Scott to create a new wardrobe for his Musicology tour. He wore a Scott-made double-breasted purple outfit with crisscross lapels while performing with Beyonce Knowles at the Grammy ceremony in 2004.

"For the most part, he comes up with his own designs," Scott said of Prince. "So he makes life easy for me. I just make it. I think he has someone sketch it. When I get it, it's like, 'How did he come up with that?' But I make it."

Scott's client wish list is long, and dapper linksman Tiger Woods ranks near the top. So does His Airness Michael Jordan. On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, as terrorist chaos unfolded out East, Scott awaited Jordan's arrival in an office downtown. Safety concerns prevented the pair from meeting that day, but they've golfed together since. "If I'm supposed to have him," Scott said, "I'll get him."

Based on the South Side

The son of a Chicago cop (Willie Sr. died in 1990) and the fifth of 10 kids, Scott has strong local roots. His mother and four of five sisters live in town, as do his two daughters, Tiffany and Jasmine. Scott, 10 years divorced, owns a South Side pad, his base of operations.

Mostly, though, he's on the move, on the road, doing fitting after fitting and presiding over teams of tailors in Atlanta, Los Angeles and locally, where he once had retail shops at 2240 S. Michigan and 641 W. Grand.

As he told a Canadian newspaper in 1992, "I just go out and have fun. That's what basketball is all about. When I stop smiling, then I know it's time for me to hang up my shoes."

After all, it's what you wear from ear to ear and not from head to toe that matters.

You, too, can own a Willie Scott original. For an appointment, phone (773) 778-7936 or e-mail WSfashion@aol.com.
Peace and Stay Wild!

Jill
___________________________________________

http://launch.groups.yaho...Generation
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Reply #1 posted 03/22/05 2:21pm

klhk

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Did Prince pay him with sexual favors? giggle
Haters travel in packs and they are offended or threatened by klhk, haters express intense hostility toward the subject of hate. Haters are annoyed and roll thier eyes when klhk is paid a compliment. ask yourself, are u a hater?
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Reply #2 posted 03/22/05 3:04pm

Revolution

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So how exactly are they a "Willie Scott creation" if Prince has them sketched
out for him?

Doesn't P have his own tailors and seamstresses?
Thanks for the laughs, arguments and overall enjoyment for the last umpteen years. It's time for me to retire from Prince.org and engage in the real world...lol. Above all, I appreciated the talent Prince. You were one of a kind.
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Reply #3 posted 03/22/05 6:04pm

psychodelicide

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Revolution said:

So how exactly are they a "Willie Scott creation" if Prince has them sketched
out for him?

Doesn't P have his own tailors and seamstresses?



I was wondering the same thing. I know, at one time, that Prince had his own tailors/seamstresses.

LOL - Willie Scott is going to get a TON of emails and phone calls from Prince fans, and will probably get a ton of questions asked: "What was it like working for Prince?", etc. etc. giggle
RIP, mom. I will forever miss and love you.
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Reply #4 posted 03/22/05 6:37pm

CandaceS

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ChiTownNPG said:

...A couple of years ago, Prince commissioned Scott to create a new wardrobe for his Musicology tour. He wore a Scott-made double-breasted purple outfit with crisscross lapels while performing with Beyonce Knowles at the Grammy ceremony in 2004.

"For the most part, he comes up with his own designs," Scott said of Prince. "So he makes life easy for me. I just make it. I think he has someone sketch it. When I get it, it's like, 'How did he come up with that?' But I make it."...


So, did Scott design the outfits for the main North American leg of the Musicology tour? I don't recall seeing much of those crisscross lapel suits after the Grammys. And, is he still working for Prince? If so, then Prince and MJ have the same "tailor"?! hmmm
"I would say that Prince's top thirty percent is great. Of that thirty percent, I'll bet the public has heard twenty percent of it." - Susan Rogers, "Hunting for Prince's Vault", BBC, 2015
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Reply #5 posted 03/22/05 8:09pm

Doozer

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ChiTownNPG said:



"I think he has someone sketch it. When I get it, it's like, 'How did he come up with that?' But I make it."


I think Prince sketches his own clothing designs.
Check out The Mountains and the Sea, a Prince podcast by yours truly and my wife. More info at https://www.facebook.com/TMATSPodcast/
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Reply #6 posted 03/22/05 8:29pm

lilgish

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Does he make any clothes for white people? Is there a type of suit Black guys prefer?
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Reply #7 posted 03/22/05 9:28pm

klhk

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lilgish said:

Does he make any clothes for white people? Is there a type of suit Black guys prefer?




wtf?
Haters travel in packs and they are offended or threatened by klhk, haters express intense hostility toward the subject of hate. Haters are annoyed and roll thier eyes when klhk is paid a compliment. ask yourself, are u a hater?
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Reply #8 posted 03/22/05 9:45pm

cbak1999

it's not unusual for P and MJ to share the same professionals. two decades ago they had the same CPA Bill Moultree.and the same lawyer Lee Phelps.

P did have his own clothing design team in the 1980s, but then he discovered Paris and the European designers.
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Reply #9 posted 03/23/05 7:17am

Universaluv

lilgish said:

Does he make any clothes for white people? Is there a type of suit Black guys prefer?


rolleyes Mark Cuban is white
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Reply #10 posted 03/23/05 7:50am

JasmineFire

klhk said:

lilgish said:

Does he make any clothes for white people? Is there a type of suit Black guys prefer?




wtf?

falloff
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Reply #11 posted 03/23/05 3:58pm

lilgish

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Universaluv said:

lilgish said:

Does he make any clothes for white people? Is there a type of suit Black guys prefer?


rolleyes Mark Cuban is white


but he tries to act like a brother, I didn't see that name.....
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Reply #12 posted 03/24/05 8:17am

klhk

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JasmineFire said:

klhk said:





wtf?

falloff




I NEVER want that monkey to eat my P***y. shake
Haters travel in packs and they are offended or threatened by klhk, haters express intense hostility toward the subject of hate. Haters are annoyed and roll thier eyes when klhk is paid a compliment. ask yourself, are u a hater?
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Reply #13 posted 03/24/05 8:59am

Universaluv

lilgish said:

Universaluv said:



rolleyes Mark Cuban is white


but he tries to act like a brother, I didn't see that name.....



He tries to act like a brother, so that really makes him a white dude. Anyway, I've seen him dance..... wink
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Reply #14 posted 03/31/05 4:48pm

cloud9mission

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cool, prince designs his own clothes smile
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Reply #15 posted 04/02/05 3:18pm

theAudience

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A former poster here, Sartoria (tombstone) was part of the Prince clothing creation camp at one time.


tA

peace Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...rmusic.htm
"Ya see, we're not interested in what you know...but what you are willing to learn. C'mon y'all."
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