Their first namesake fragrance in three years, Perry Ellis hits the market today with a new designer scent. Available from August 1st, 2013 from PerryEllis.com, Macy’s, Dillard’s and Boscovs, Perry Ellis is inspired by the label’s signature dot. Playful, the fragrance opens with a combination of a bitter orange citrus burst, crisp herbaceous spices of cardamom, coriander and clary sage. Fir, mint, cedar wood and lavender play the heart to notes of sandalwood, patchouli and white moss wrapped in amber, tonka bean and musk.
For the infectious campaign to match the fragrance, Perry Ellis enlisted photographer Daniel Jackson, who shot Paul Kelly (Q Models), styled by Allan Kennedy in the label’s tailored wears, Paul was cheerily captured in the air, catching a bottle of the new scent (Creative Direction by Richard Austin, hair by Didier Malige, makeup by Aya Komatsu, prop styling by Jerry Schwartz).
Remember: Perry Ellis founded his own fashion house, Perry Ellis International, in 1978, when he opened his showroom on New York’s Seventh Avenue. As the company’s chairman and head designer he later developed Perry Ellis Menswear Collection – 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. Throughout the ’80s the company continued to expand and include various labels such as Perry Ellis Collection and Perry Ellis Portfolio. In 1984, Perry Ellis America was created in cooperation with Levi Strauss. In 1985, he revived his lesser-priced Portfolio line. In the early 1980s, wholesale revenues had figured at about $60 million. By 1986 that number had risen to about $260 million. But he died on May 30, 1986 at the age of 42. In 2002, Ellis was honored with a commemorative white bronze plaque embedded into the sidewalk on New York’s Seventh “Fashion” Avenue.After the death of Ellis, a series of notable designers including Isaac Mizrahi, Marc Jacobs and Tom Ford have worked for the company. The womenswear collection was dropped in 2003, but the comapny remains successful and notable today for its high-end menswear and fragrances. Designer Perry Ellis has 39 perfumes in their fragrance base. The earliest edition was created in 1985 and the newest is from 2013. Perry Ellis fragrances were made in collaboration with perfumers Sophia Grojsman, Jean-Louis Grauby, Claude Dir, Loc Dong and Firmenich.
