Perry Ellis Mixes Covetable Athleisure With Tailored Formal Wear

Perry Ellis creative director, Michael Maccari, uses layering and a provocative color palette impeccably in the SS17 show.

For the Perry Ellis SS17 collection, Michael Maccari reminded us all of the joys of layering. Nearly every look in the presentation featured upwards of four layers. T-shirts, lightweight long sleeve tees, bomber jackets, blazers, fitted pants, and an assortment of sweaters to be artfully tied around the hips were amongst the most popular clothing items to stack on top of one another. The athletic materials that were used to construct most of the pieces lent themselves nicely to being piled three deep due to their light weight.

The real star of the show (and king of the layers) was the first look which featured a long sleeve top positioned underneath a short sleeve button down of the same pattern and fabric. Rather than being overwhelming, the pieces work together to create a single unified top rather than two disjointed pieces. When the athleisure portion of the show subsided, Maccari fell comfortably into the beautiful tailoring that is to be expected at a Perry Ellis show. Dress pants and blazers in a myriad of light fabrics in blues and oranges brightened up what is a very earthy palette.

Overall Perry Ellis’s SS17 collection is incredibly easy to wear and pushes the latest athleisure trend to its fullest potential. It is sure to be a popular purchase come spring when wearing terry cloth sweatpants to brunch just won’t cut it anymore.