Perry Ellis Show Draws California Men With Style

The Perry Ellis company brought its youthful approach to American menswear to Los Angeles recently, for the company’s first official show here in five years, and discovered that the California man has developed his own satiric sense of style.

While the new fall “Signature” collection, designed by Roger Forsythe, paraded down the ramps of the new, body-guarded, Arena nightclub on Santa Monica Boulevard in Hollywood, the denizens of late-night fashion were doing some runway work of their own.

Everything from the reserved (gray suits and ties) to the ridiculous (a green monkey-fur coat and oversized genie-lamp necklace) were spotted roaming, and casually posing, about the cavernous two-story nightclub. But as flamboyant as the audience sometimes appeared, the fashion show was clearly the main attraction.

Most of the audience admitted to having a limited Perry Ellis wardrobe. “I wear his underwear” was a familiar statement from most men surveyed, all unaware that discreet item is made by Jockey International in a licensing arrangement.

Forsythe’s collection, while maintaining the late Ellis’ witty sense of exaggerated shapes and patterns, focused on men’s individual style concerns. “I work within the context of Perry Ellis--the polka dots, the prints--but the rest is all me,” said Forsythe.

He introduced three distinct menswear looks for fall, each with its own sense of color, fabric and purpose. The first grouping, a casual sportswear collection inspired by Marco Polo’s travels, focuses on rich spice colors, often paired with vivid Renaissance and Florentine prints and Burmese paisleys.

The Equus collection, an assortment of 1920s Great Gatsby-inspired tailored sportswear, concentrates on subtle fabric and pattern mixes such as solid camel’s-hair topcoats worn over three-button camel’s-hair plaid sport coats and wool houndstooth plaid trousers.

In evening wear, color-block cashmere sweaters were shown with wool trousers or dressed up with a cashmere polka dot vest and bright-colored sport coat. About the whimsical red and black sequined blazers and waistcoats in the collection, Forsythe said, “It’s not like I’m trying to dress Liberace or Elvis. It’s evening wear. It’s about letting go and putting a sense of humor in your wardrobe.”