Sunday, June 8, 2008
Fashion designer Lisa Perry may have been voted "Best Dressed" back in the late 1970s at suburban Chicago's Deerfield High (wearing purple bellbottoms with suspenders in the yearbook picture), but she didn't find her own style until she walked into the Andre Courreges store in Paris 10 years ago.
"This is it!" recalls Perry of the moment she decided to begin collecting the iconic French designer's vintage fashions. Before she knew it she'd accumulated more than 100 groovy Swinging Sixties-era pieces by Courreges, Cardin, Gernreich and Dior. Strangers were stopping her on the street to ask where they could get her outfits. So she thought, why not launch a line inspired by her closet?
A Fashion Institute of Technology grad, Perry dipped a cautious toe into the fashion waters with a small spring 2007 rack of "trapeze" dresses (she describes them as "Mia Farrow when she was married to Sinatra") for a small New York boutique.
"I thought the worst that could happen was that I would have 20 new outfits for myself." Instead, her Twiggy-esque double-knit wool jersey dresses flew out the door.
"I was so surprised," says Perry, "but 17-year-old girls wear them as micro-minis with high, high heels and women in their 70s wear them with black tights and flats."
Soon her line will be carried around the world. Though today Perry lives in New York with her husband and 21-year-old twins, she says she's still influenced by her Deerfield days.
"My father would paint, Jackson Pollock style, in our basement. He was the quintessential beatnik, so inspirational."
Favorite things:
1. Marimekko: Anything Marimekko. Crate & Barrel is where I first learned about Marimekko.
2. Vitra miniature chairs: I have a small collection.
3. Eero Saarinen: The epitome of my look.
4. Jasmine tea: The smell, the blossoms.
5. Four Seasons Restaurant in New York: Nothing like that modernist architecture. It was a collaboration between Philip Johnson and Mies van der Rohe.
6. Lucite heels: I like shoes that don't attract attention. These are by Stuart Weitzman, a reissue from the Sixties that are no longer available. Bought about 10 pairs!
7. La Perla bikinis: They have bottoms that cover and tops that enhance.
8. Decades vintage store in L.A.: Been shopping there for about 10 years. They are going to carry my line!
9. Heller dinnerware melamine plates: I have blue, green and white. Conrans has white but you can only buy other colors in vintage shops or on eBay.
10. Karaoke: I love to sing mostly `70s music. Disco, Elton John, Carole King.
11. Gerber daisies: Pop shades of hot pink, orange and yellow.
12. Hermes Globe-Trotter agenda: Passe but I still love to write down my appointments and special dates.
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