The time has come for Los Angeles's most Instagrammable spot to peel back its bright pink layer and reveal its Paul Smith Signature Stripe. The famous Pink Wall on Melrose gets a makeover!  This change comes as a huge surprise for the daily influencers and tourists who visit the “instafamous” Paul Smith Melrose Avenue shop for its well-known bright pink backdrop that has ignited a #pinkwall hashtag all over Instagram. Now, the landmark on Melrose Avenue has a new look with a design made in-house by our out-of-the-box (literally) thinking Art Studio team.  

The Paul Smith creative team based in London, approached OM Art Studio with an idea to design a special mural and transform this famous corner. The design will celebrate the brand's iconic motif. They wanted a trompe l'oeil-like mural that appeared as if the hot-pink exterior of the storefront was being ripped away to reveal Paul Smith’s inner Signature Stripe. 

How did we achieve this effect?

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We were resourceful in our pursuit of the perfect, choosing a box we use to ship gifts to our clients as a small Paul Smith Store model (Is this a store for ants!?). We sourced the brightest pink paper we could find from our local art store Blick, to recreate the iconic pink wall. We gently sprayed both sides of the box with adhesive, attached the pink construction paper to its exterior, and began to tear and peel. After only one try, we found the effect to be a great representation of Paul Smith’s original design request. The results can be seen below: 

Yes, we could have spent time researching a great peel and tear stock effect on the internet or manipulating a shadow in photoshop, but our team wanted to present Paul Smith with a design that reflected the real deal - The shadow from the peel was sourced by New York City's finest sunlight hitting the pink paper. And the real paper tear was created by our nimble fingers gently pulling back the pink paper for an authentic tear effect.

For the next seven days, our paint team hand painted the design, and every bit of detail as our Content Creation team captured the whole process from start to finish. ​Once Paul Smith approved our design, our OM production team launched a full-court press, sourcing 15 gallons of paint we custom-mixed by eye to match the 40 different colors that makeup Paul Smith’s signature stripes. We used two types of paint, including water-based paint with a flat sheet (including the “Pink Ladies” wall color) to hand paint the pictorial effects of the shattered wall. The second paint was our go-to, glossy oil-based enamel to create a vibrant hand done super straight line work. The juxtaposition of the two different mediums is rather dynamic.  The contrast of the two textures gives the effect of the signature pink shedding its skin to reveal a glossy and fresh new layer of Paul Smith’s Signature Stripes. This is a first for Overall Murals to use this technique of using two types of based paint and after seeing the results, it won't be our last. 

“It was insane seeing how many people photographed and took videos of our painters revealing a new wall design. In no time our painters will be #instafamous too!” comments OM Senior Producer Hayden, as he watched passersby’s response to the design change. ​The mural has been photographed with Actors Matt Rogers, Mason Goodingand Sam Richardson, danced in front of, and slowly revealed each day by Instagrammers killagramz3xl, and TikTokers @notbfiner, all of whom excitedly anticipated the ultimate BIG REVEAL.