Perry Ellis’s Michael Maccari and his team changed things up tonight by showing the label’s Fall collection in the disco ball light–dappled lobby of the Hippodrome, a historic space near New York City’s Times Square (the reason why the show was set for 9:00 p.m., the PR rep said, was because it’s a fully working professional building—the non–fashion folk had to clear out). Way back when, before the existing skyscraper was erected, where, conveniently, the Perry Ellis offices are now housed, the space held performances—including circuses. Maccari has found ongoing inspiration in his professional home; last season, his lookbook was shot on the roof. This time around, Hippodrome badges appeared on various pieces.
Nicely, the takeaway was not as “head to toe” as usual, an admission in the designer’s own words: “There’s old Perry and new Perry, work and play, bits of pointillism and then early-’90s parts.” The latter-most segment was the most engaging: archival pieces, from Perry Ellis’s own stores and “some literally from eBay,” were reissued. The best was a cropped saffron-hued windbreaker with racing stripes down the sleeves and America banded across the front. It made for the sort of streetwear throwback item that hype kids are still clamoring for. Sometimes the overlapping and the casualness went a little too far into strange eddies, such as with a military green poncho-jacket hybrid with a diagonally sewn-on breast pocket. But all in all, the freed-up vibe worked, and it was a comfortable, low-key way to end a marathon of a day.
