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James Perse was born in Los Angeles, California in 1972.
James's childhood was split between the beach, the hockey rink and the floor
of his father's innovative Los Angeles boutique, Maxfield. Early on, James
was more interested in sports, but with Maxfield at the forefront of putting
Los Angeles on the fashion map, James received an incidental education on
cutting edge fashion from Europe and Asia, on modern architecture and furniture
design, on the elegant and the clean-line.
Ironically, sports led James to his first foray into fashion. Obsessed with
baseball caps, he could never find one that was well designed - with quality
construction, shape, fabric and coloring. In the summer of 1991, James set
out to make the ideal cap for Maxfield and it was not long before customers
became clients - movie directors ordered hats for their cast and crew, record
labels bought them for tours. A merchandising business was born.
After a few years however, James saw that merchandising was to be a stepping-stone
for his design ambitions. In 1994, James launched a t-shirt line that rapidly
gained loyal fans looking for his seamless blend of the lux and the casual.
In 1996, James founded his first namesake collection of women's knits. The
line soon grew into two distinctly wearable collections, Standard James Perse
for high-quality basics and the signature James Perse Los Angeles ready-to-wear
items, including jackets, sweaters, pants and dresses. In 1998, the James Perse
brand launched an equally outlined men's collection and a year later, a line
for babies and children. In fall 2007, the brand released new collections in
the categories of bags, accessories and home.
His passion for minimalist architecture influenced by warm west-coast indoor
outdoor living and the casual clothing that's inspired by it, ultimately
resulted in James' personal design philosophy and aesthetic - low maintenance
high fashion - emphasizing elegance and comfort, and pairing sophistication
with simplicity. James has applied this visionary approach in every step of
defining and developing the brand.
In 2003, James Perse opened its first retail store. For Perse, the retail
environment acts as a form of communication, a medium for conveying the company's
culture, ideas and values. Today, James Perse is a global brand, operating eight
company-owned stores in the US, with four located in his native California,
and others in New York City and Las Vegas. James Perse is also available at
top specialty retailers such as Barney's New York, Bergdorf Goodman and Neiman
Marcus and sold internationally. In 2007, James Perse launched an online shopping
site, providing a broader audience direct access to the brand. Currently, a
boutique hotel that captures the James Perse lifestyle is in development.
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James Perse
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