Along with Karl Lagerfeld, American fashion designer Perry Ellis has defined the elegant simple style of apparel associated with the Preppy look of the 1980s. Starting with sportswear in 1970s Perry Ellis brought a fresh, simple approach to clothing in era when the bizarre was just starting to dominate fashion thinking.

He was born to a prosperous fuel company owner in Portsmouth, Virginia on March 3 1940. He could certainly have chosen a worse place and circumstance to get his start. Portsmouth is a lovely colonial era city close to fabled Virginia Beach.
Along with Karl Lagerfeld, American fashion designer Perry Ellis has defined the elegant simple style of apparel associated with the Preppy look of the 1980s. Starting with sportswear in 1970s Perry Ellis brought a fresh, simple approach to clothing in era when the bizarre was just starting to dominate fashion thinking.

He was born to a prosperous fuel company owner in Portsmouth, Virginia on March 3 1940. He could certainly have chosen a worse place and circumstance to get his start. Portsmouth is a lovely colonial era city close to fabled Virginia Beach.

As a young child he lived with his parents in the house of his grandmother. He would later say that exploring the hidden nooks and old chests of her sprawling home instilled into him a sense of appreciation for the vintage clothing his grandmother kept around.

Edwin and Winifred Ellis provided their son with a good education and sent him to the prestigious College of William and Mary in Williamsburg. Perry was a good enough student to graduate with a degree in business administration in 1961. Like many others at the time he did a brief stint in the military reserves to avoid being drafted and sent to fight in Viet Nam. In Perry Ellis’ case, he chose the Coast Guard reserve. Reflecting his hometown interest in things aquatic presumably.

However, even that service was short lived. After six months he enrolled in the master’s degree program at New York University. He left the school in 1963 with an advanced degree in retail business. You might expect he would have stayed in New York, the hottest fashion city in the world, but he didn’t.

He took a job close to home at Miller and Rhodes, a department store in Richmond Virginia as a merchandiser and buyer. He brought in the active and preppy look of John Meyer. After getting his feet wet in apparel pool the lure of New York City proved to great and he took a job with John Meyer, who had been impressed by his work at Miller and Rhodes. He made a good impression on all his employers with his solid business education and sense and his unflappable manner.

Meyer died in 1974 and Ellis moved on and took a job with the Vera Company. After two years there Perry Ellis’ big break came when the Vera Companies asked him to design their newest women’s line. The Vera Company had made a name for itself by being largely responsible for the now reviled polyester pantsuit and similar 1970s era fashions.

The first Perry Ellis line was revealed to the world in November 1976. He revealed 33 new pieces at a show in the company’s headquarters. The show was a hit. Buyers bought and critics refrained from criticizing.