The Perry Ellis show last night was great fun. The lighting dimmed, the music started, and out walked 28 flawless male models strutting their stuff. Perry Ellis has been around for a long time and I’ve always liked his sportswear. And it was fun to see blokes in flat shoes glide across the runway for a change.
The collection was fantastic. The outfits were totally wearable, with a few fun avant-garde additions, like waistcoats, bow ties, suspenders and cravats. The palette consisted of scrumptious combinations like black paired with navy, maroon paired with chocolate brown, charcoal paired with teal, and grey and white paired with tomato red. There were also several mono-chromatically toned outfits in grey and black which I liked just as much.
Quilted jackets made quite a big statement along with 70’s style leather blazers, embossed velvet blazers and biker jackets. There were a few things I wished I could order for Greg right now – like the cropped black jacket you see on the model above left. Now wouldn’t THAT be fun.
Leather pants, jeans, checked pants and sleek slacks were paired with striped knitwear and striped shirts. Patterns were often mixed, working in complete harmony. Suits featured quite strongly too, which makes me wish that more men would actually wear suits in fun ways. I guess that’s too much to ask in a world where, for the most part, blokes just want to wear jeans and shorts.
This has been the most commercial and mainstream collection we’ve seen so far. The Perry Ellis designer seemed pleased with his work too. And so he should be. This is good salable merchandise.
The Perry Ellis website currently has a video showing backstage action, an interview with the designer and the show itself on their front page.
