Due to copyright restrictions all of our full videos are held in a secure location. To gain access please fill in your details below and we will email the address to the full unedited video straight to your inbox automatically!

Please double check your email address to ensure that you get the link to your video!

View sample video (requires FREE All Access Plugin)

Perry Ellis (March 3, 1940 – May 30, 1986) was an American fashion designer who founded a sportswear house in the mid-1970s.

Perry Edwin Ellis was born in Portsmouth, Virginia on March 3, 1940, as the only child of Edwin and Winifred Rountree Ellis. His father owned a Coal and Oil company which enabled the family to live a comfortable middle-class life. Perry graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School in Portsmouth, Virginia in 1957. Perry then studied at the College of William and Mary, in Williamsburg, Virginia, and graduated with a degree in business administration in 1961. He enlisted in the United States Coast Guard reserve to avoid the military draft and after six months he enrolled at New York University, from which he graduated with a master’s degree in retailing in 1963. He then started out in department store retailing in the Richmond, Virginia area to gain experience in the fashion industry as a buyer and merchandiser at the department store Miller & Rhoads. While there, he was co-founder of a Richmond retail shop A Sunny Day. He later joined the sportswear company John Meyer in New York. In the mid-1970s, eventually, he was approached by his then employer, The Vera Companies, famous for their polyester double-knit pantsuits, to design a fashion collection for them. Soon after that, Ellis presented his first women’s sportswear line, called Portfolio, in November 1976. Although he could not sketch, he knew exactly how the industry worked and proved a master of innovative ideas who created ‘new classics’ that American women longed for at the time.

Praised by critics as the ideal American sportswear designer of the time and loved by female consumers for his clean-cut yet casual style, Ellis, together with The Vera Companies’ parent company, founded his own fashion house, Perry Ellis International, in 1978. He opened his showroom on New York’s fashionable Seventh Avenue. As the company’s chairman and head designer he later developed Perry Ellis Menswear Collection — widely successful, and marked by “non-traditional, modern classics”. Step by step, he added shoes, accessories, furs and perfume that all bore his name. It became his trademark to skip down the runway at the end of his fashion shows.

More about Perry Ellis from around the Blogosphere…

• Perry Ellis – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia « America Most Wanted - America Most Wanted
• Gymboree Corp., Netease.com Perry Ellis International, Star Bulk … - spider-topihitam.com
• Stocks to watch today - Just another WordPress weblog - Easy … - Easy Automobile Insure
• Where can I find the new Cologne by Perry Ellis for men? « Auto … - Auto Car Insurance Quote Online
• Does Perry Ellis brand clothing expenses $ ive or not? « Auto Car … - Auto Car Insurance Quote Online
• What smell Perry Ellis cologne is the best? « Auto Car Insurance … - Auto Car Insurance Quote Online
• Perry Black By Perry Ellis For Men, Eau De Toilette Spray, 3.4 … - Current Events | Twitter Trends | Google Trends
• Perry Ellis – Daily Headlines | Ginorgo News Site - Ginorgo News Site
• Perry Ellis – Media Buzz | Domet Nuobo - Domet Nuobo
• Perry Ellis International Announces It Will Resume Manufacturing … - spider-topihitam.com