Ellis' influence on the fashion industry has been called "a huge turning point"[1] because he introduced new patterns and proportions to a market which was dominated by more traditional men's clothing.
His father owned a coal and home heating oil company, which enabled the family to live a comfortable middle-class life.
Although he was not a skilled sketcher, 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.
[18] Ellis enhanced this trend by creating substantial, hand-knit-looking sweaters in rough-hewn textures that combined well with the earthtones and loose shapes of the period.
He explicitly endorsed the trend for layering one set of shoulder pads on top of another,[31] which would become common in the 1980s, as would the flounced miniskirts, called rah-rah skirts in the UK, that he and Norma Kamali introduced the following year.
[41] He continued to be known for the sweaters,[42] cropped trousers,[43][44] and silhouette experimentation[45][46] that he had begun at the end of the seventies, including the flippy miniskirts that he and Norma Kamali introduced in 1979.
[50] As an additional alternative to the prominent shoulder-padding he had become known for in 1978, he used capelet collars to add width[51] and continued to incorporate top-of-sleeve tucks and pleats.
[52] For spring of 1981, he presented soft corsets[53][54] and hip-padded versions of the short skirts he had begun showing in 1979,[55][56] and he began using a few more substantial fabrics for shaping.
He released his "Chariots of Fire" collection for spring of that year,[62][63] continuing to show the longer lengths he had favored the previous fall, though never exclusively.
[72] In 1984, Perry Ellis America was created in cooperation with Levi Strauss and he revived his lesser-priced Portfolio product line, filling it with the kind of soft, unlined, comfortable clothes he had shown in the mid-seventies, now updated with broader shoulders.
[74][75] Prints and slimmer, more minimal shapes were a focus for his Spring 1985 collection, with large florals, revealing cuts, and tunic sweaters prominent.
[84] In February 1984, Ellis and his long-time friend, television producer and writer Barbara Gallagher, conceived a child together via artificial insemination.
Ellis continued to deny that he was sick, but rumors of his illness persisted after he passed out in the receiving line at a party at the Costume Institute in December 1985.
[90] Steven Kolb defined Perry Ellis' legacy with the following words: "In terms of men's fashion, he was the first to bring the idea of dressing up in a casual way to the American man".
Perry Ellis International also owns and licenses other notable fashion brands, such as Original Penguin by Munsingwear, Cubavera, C&C California, Rafaella, Laundry by Shelli Segal, Ben Hogan, Jantzen, Nike Swim and Callaway, among others.
Building upon styles set forth by Ellis, the brand has successfully continued to expand, collaborate with other designers, such as Duckie Brown, and hold critical acclaim.