Perry Ellis International (Q5640)
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American fashion company
- Perry Ellis
| Language | Label | Description | Also known as |
|---|---|---|---|
| English | Perry Ellis International |
American fashion company |
|
Statements
design assistant
2019
influenced
1984
design director
chairman and head designer
1986
president
Perry Ellis has a lot going for it in 2019. The brand recently launched the nostalgia-soaked diffusion line called Perry Ellis America, made up exclusively of archival pieces plucked from its ’80s heyday. Think: color-blocked windbreakers, logo’d hoodies, and track pants. (Justin and Hailey Bieber are already fans.) As for the main line, Perry Ellis has always been a brand known for its prints, and the “look” of this summer was indisputably a boldly printed camp shirt. Guys wore them over T-shirts and girls wore them with bike shorts; it’s a happily unisex trend. Creative director Michael Maccari said the women in his office frequently shop the collection, and they’ve likely called dibs on the Spring 2020 shirts that mimic abstract paintings.Those shirts merged Maccari’s two key influences: the Luca Guadagnino filmA Bigger Splash(set in Sicily and starring Tilda Swinton and Ralph Fiennes) and the artwork of David Hockney. Maccari was designing the collection last fall, just after one of Hockney’s famous swimming pool paintings sold for $90 million, making him the priciest living artist in history (though he was surpassed by Jeff Koons in May). Hockney’s crisp, deeply saturated paintings of water and nature informed the painterly prints, while the artist’s own preppy style informed the “nerdy” knit polos. Those items were bright spots in a classic-leaning collection. The news in suiting and 9-to-5 staples tends to be smaller tweaks at Perry Ellis, like changing the scale of a stripe or applying a special treatment to a suit to make it machine-washable. The guys (and girls) who are drawn to the more fun, vibrant printed shirts will likely skip the business-y stuff and consider the more casual pieces, like a buttery-soft garment-dyed twill chore jacket.
5 September 2019
Last week, news broke that Patagonia will no longer accept bulk orders fromcertain corporations. It’s shifting its priorities to companies that are committed to outdoor sports, sustainability, or charitable endeavors—meaning hedge funds and tech start-ups that want to outfit their teams in logo’d “Frat-agonia” fleece vests might have to shop elsewhere. Cue the Wall Street outrage!Guys needn’t panic, though; plenty of designers have been making their own (arguably more stylish) versions of fleece and micro-puff vests. Perry Ellis creative director Michael Maccari designed a lightly quilted vest in a beige suiting check for his Fall 2019 collection, for instance. He styled it over a navy sweatshirt and joggers, something of a “weekend look” for the “finance bro.” Come Monday, he might prefer it with Maccari’s more familiar lightweight button-downs and slim, wrinkle-proof chinos.Uncanny timing aside, the vest summed up Maccari’s vision for the Fall 2019 collection nicely. It bridged the gap between “old” and “new” Perry Ellis with its suiting check: Back in the ’80s, Perry Ellis the man liked to use suiting fabrics in unconventional ways. He also created prints by breaking apart and abstracting plaids and foulards, which appeared elsewhere in this collection. The graphic “plaid” shirts nodded to the ’80s while also looking vaguely tech-y, like a motherboard. Maccari is hoping the circa-2019 Perry Ellis customer mixes it with pinstriped trousers for a subtle pattern clash. That might feel downright daring to some guys, ditto the new three-piece suit. In the label’s bestselling burgundy shade, it might just convince young bankers to add a different kind of vest to their repertoire.
3 April 2019
It was the collection that gotMarc Jacobsfired from Perry Ellis. It was the show that made his career. With Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love in the newspapers and their music dominating both the radio waves and MTV, a 29-year-old Jacobs sent flannel shirts, printed granny dresses, Dr. Martens, and knitted skullcaps down the runway. “Grunge is ghastly,” Suzy Menkes declared, and Jacobs indeed lost his job, but this was one show that the critics and the Perry Ellis brass got wrong. The collection became a badge of cool, representative of the culturally savvy collections Jacobs would later create at both the eponymous label he launched with his business partner, Robert Duffy, and at the French luxury goods house Louis Vuitton, where they both landed in 1997.
19 November 1992
Perry Ellis’s Michael Maccari and his team changed things up tonight by showing the label’s Fall collection in the disco ball light–dappled lobby of the Hippodrome, a historic space near New York City’s Times Square (the reason why the show was set for 9:00 p.m., the PR rep said, was because it’s a fully working professional building—the non–fashion folk had to clear out). Way back when, before the existing skyscraper was erected, where, conveniently, the Perry Ellis offices are now housed, the space held performances—including circuses. Maccari has found ongoing inspiration in his professional home; last season, his lookbook was shot on the roof. This time around,Hippodromebadges appeared on various pieces.Nicely, the takeaway was not as “head to toe” as usual, an admission in the designer’s own words: “There’s old Perry and new Perry, work and play, bits of pointillism and then early-’90s parts.” The latter-most segment was the most engaging: archival pieces, from Perry Ellis’s own stores and “some literally from eBay,” were reissued. The best was a cropped saffron-hued windbreaker with racing stripes down the sleeves andAmericabanded across the front. It made for the sort of streetwear throwback item that hype kids are still clamoring for. Sometimes the overlapping and the casualness went a little too far into strange eddies, such as with a military green poncho-jacket hybrid with a diagonally sewn-on breast pocket. But all in all, the freed-up vibe worked, and it was a comfortable, low-key way to end a marathon of a day.
7 February 2018
“Historically, Perry has always been a bit non-prescriptive. It’s not obviously like, ‘Oh, he’s going to the office’ or ‘He’s going out of town.’ The look has been more, maybe, off—more of a mix,” said Perry Ellis’s creative director, Michael Maccari, this morning, surveying his Spring collection.What that translated to was an expansion of his catalog, so to speak—from the baseline, including a subtly cool khaki pima cotton T-shirt paired with matching shorts, to the more graphic and grabby, like a neoprene sweater printed with a heavy primary-colored ink pattern.In that simple-to-statement swath, Maccari kept his “mix” front and center. He included wide-leg nubby denim and on-trend flyaway belts; striped polos over windowpane-lattice shorts; and generously broken and pooling trousers. Footwear, too, was a hybrid between gym and dress—we liked tan suede sneakers that could almost double as bucks.Maccari does a good job of keeping the aesthetic accessible enough for the Perry Ellis client—the company won’t ever be a fashion mover and shaker. Though, in a way, the most streamlined stuff here was the most fashionable stuff for Spring. That khaki tee-and-shorts combo was the chicest thing we’ve seen so far at New York Fashion Week: Men’s. Low-key but highly covetable.
12 July 2017
Perry Ellis creative director Michael Maccari landed on a solid, steady line of thought for Fall: “acceptable” uniforms. Or, more specifically, how the codes that have long dictated men’s dressing are changing and forever becoming increasingly casual, thereby rendering a new dimension of acceptability.What came of that was a more street-salient result than in recent seasons, with a retro sportif fix, to boot (see an intarsia knit sweater emblazoned with the number 80—1980 was the year Perry Ellis began designing menswear). Maccari suggested underscoring blazers with crinkly button-downs and tees, or sporting flat-brims embroidered with the letters PE (physical education, interchangeable with Perry Ellis). This collection wasn’t streetwear in the sense that we’ve come to know the category—it had more formality about it—but it was a measured and metered step into a relaxed zone, which was nice to see.Other parts to call out: a printed neoprene sweater, which was strong, and a handful of quarter-zips. Maccari, jokingly though accurately, said, “Quarter-zips are feeling cool again, right?” Agreed. Also: He’s launching shoes with the season, most of which are hybridized versions of sneaker-loafers. One even has a removable tassel.
31 January 2017
“It’s really about collage . . . you see it everywhere, not just in design. Look at social media,” said Perry Ellis’s creative director, Michael Maccari, this morning. The statement held fast and ended up being tepidly provocative; Perry Ellis’s Spring 2017 blueprint, all mashed and mixed and layered, is inspired by the now (that is, a world that is also mashed and mixed and layered), and for the most part Maccari was successful in his splicing and manipulating.The biggest takeaway, product-wise, was a shift into what Maccari and his team are calling “relaxed activewear.” We’ve heard that term for a while now. Yet even though the trendiness of athleisure has come and gone, pretty much, it doesn’t make anoraks and baseball jackets appliquéd with geometric florals or loose-fitting “tech-twill” trousers any less desirable. In a way, the dynamism and dressiness apparent in these pieces felt a little like Dries Van Noten’s take on color, print, and shape. Only this being Perry Ellis, there’s a broader, everyman appeal.What might be more challenging for Ellis fans: a nylon trench in a marigold-esque color, or an ombré linen sweater that faded from mustard to blue and back again. These marked a section of the lineup that seemed a little overly crunchy and not quite as clean as the sharp army/navy palette and well-calibrated balance between sporty and stylish seen elsewhere. But when broken down, there’ll be plenty to pick from, with those aforementioned jackets being the strongest of the lot.
11 July 2016
Remember when the only men who wore capris were stylish Euros? Well, these days American guys are a lot more style-savvy. "I knew I was taking a risk with the capris," Perry Ellis' creative director, John Crocco, said post-show. "But we had a few capri options for men in stores and they were selling really well, so I thought,Why not?" Cut cleanly in sand and white linen and ending a few inches below the knee, they were a nice companion to the salmon, mustardy ocher, and periwinkle jackets and knits. The colors were inspired by his recent travels to the Painted Desert in Arizona. "It's about the traveler, the road trip meets safari," Crocco explained.With plenty of linen, cotton, and an intriguing chintz-linen blend, plus roomy uncomplicated cuts, there was a pleasant, airy feel to the collection. Crocco added some approachable tailoring touches, such as suit trousers that hit at the ankle and a handsome white-on-white seersucker sport coat. When he did venture deeper into trends—a couple of color-blocked sweaters might look cheekily right on a svelte downtowner, but you could see the potential for disaster in the wrong hands—it was with a likable, gentle nudge most shoppers will likely respond to.
11 September 2011
Perry Ellis' creative director, John Crocco, was thinking of Philip Johnson's Glass House in New Canaan, Connecticut, when he began designing the season. That house, dappled in soft evening light, gave rise to the neutral, camel-infused palette, with lovely twilight greens and grays; its architecture became some of the pieced, paneled, and color-blocked garments.A Connecticut country-house vibe suffused the whole collection, in fact—one that was more WASP than Modernist. There were riding jackets and car coats, soft plaid trousers and chunky cabled knits. A tip of the hat to the now came courtesy of unexpected pairings of fabric and style: piped tux pants made in washed corduroy, or formal-cut trousers made of denim, not wool. A short wool Eisenhower jacket bucked its midcentury military roots to arrive in myriad forms: in tonal, patchwork gray wool flannel; in an exploded plaid print; and in a version Crocco declared his favorite, a piecemeal shearling, worn with appropriate aplomb by a sauntering, swaggerly Sean O'Pry.
10 February 2011
Style.com did not review the Fall 2010 menswear collections. Please enjoy the photos, and stay tuned for our complete coverage of the Spring 2011 collections, including reviews of each show by Tim Blanks.
14 February 2010