Tyler Ellis on the Lasting Legacy of Her Father: Perry Ellis

Tyler Ellis was only 18 months old when her father died, but his legacy lives on within her.

Ellis, the daughter of designer Perry Ellis, is a successful luxury handbag designer. The Los Angeles-born entrepreneur, who recently relocated to Florence, Italy, may not remember her father, but the logo on her line speaks to her heritage.

As her website details: “On November 16, 1985, Perry Ellis marked his daughter’s first birthday with a handwritten envelope addressed to ‘Miss Tyler Alexandra Ellis.’ Years later, that cherished envelope became the foundation of the Tyler Ellis Signature Logo. His handwriting was transformed into the brand’s defining mark, a personal homage that connects father and daughter across time.”

In an interview on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Perry Ellis brand, Tyler Ellis said that while she has “no memories of her father,” who died in 1986, he was still an integral part of her life. “He was such a profound human,” she said. “What he did for the fashion industry, I’ve been able to learn through peers, through my mother, through his work, and that has done a lot for me, though I didn’t get into the fashion world until I was in my 20s, so it took me a while to get there.”

Her mother, Barbara Gallagher, was a successful television writer and producer — one of the original producers of “Saturday Night Live” and a writer of “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” Ellis said. “She was an executive for quite a long time at NBC and ABC, and when she had me, she quit and decided to be full-time mom.”

Her mother and Perry were longtime friends, and as Gallagher, who is still alive and well, turned 40 without meeting the man of her dreams and wanting to have a child, she reached out to Perry. They met at a Mr Chow restaurant in New York and agreed to have a child together. “They said, ‘Let’s do it,’ and the rest is history,” Ellis said.

Ellis didn’t initially think she would get involved in fashion. In fact, she attended Boston University for film and television and majored in communications. She returned to L.A. after college, but quickly decided to take another path. “I moved to New York and worked for Michael Kors for a little while, and then I dove off into my own world.”

When relocating to New York, she admits to pulling a couple of strings to help her get a foot in the door.

“I reached out to a few people who had known my father, or known people close to him, and I talked with Michael’s team, and we really connected. I was able to intern with him and Lance [Le Pere, Kors’ husband and creative director of women’s design] during New York Fashion Week, and I got to see behind the scenes how everything worked. It was so inspiring to me. What really stuck with me was the intricate details, how a look would come out, and Lance would put a little belt, or raise the hemline two centimeters, and it would really take the look from already good to great. So that is something that has translated into my work.”

It was during her time with Kors that she felt “emboldened to go out and do my own thing,” she recalled, “and handbags were screaming at me.”

She continued: “I had always loved accessories, handbags specifically. And I travel a lot. I would be wearing a bag that I spent a lot of money on, and I’m in Japan, and there’s a woman wearing the same bag as me, and it just started to feel not special anymore. That was stuck in the back of my head. So I said, ‘Let’s create a luxury brand that’s unique and you don’t see everywhere.’”

So in 2011, she launched the brand under the name Tyler Alexandra. “That’s my middle name, because I felt I needed to earn Ellis.”

By 2017, she felt she’d earned that right and renamed the company Tyler Ellis. “I started producing in Paris, originally at a small LVMH-owned factory. That wasn’t very helpful for me, as I’m not owned by LVMH,” she recalled. “Then I moved to Italy, started there with a few of the larger factories. Then I finally landed at my atelier, which I purchased this year,” she said. “That was a big step. We moved the family to Florence, and my husband and I are raising our son over there.”

The move apparently paid off because the Tyler Ellis designs now appear on the runways in Paris as well in the hands of celebrities including Ali Larter, Leslie Bibb, Mindy Kaling, Regina Hall, Molly Sims and others.

Her bags, which are all handmade in Italy, include evening clutches in leather, suede, denim, satin, crushed velvet and other materials in solids, patterns and crystals. There are also handbags in leather and wicker, some quilted and others hand-painted, as well as accessories such as card holders, cosmetic cases, phone carriers and even a puppy poo bag.

There’s also a Perry Clutch, which is an emerald silhouette with a detachable shoulder chain, a pine cone closure and a Thayer blue liner — both signatures of the brand.

Prices are squarely in the luxury realm, with clutches ranging from $995 to $8,550. The Perry Clutch is $2,950. The collection is sold mainly direct-to-consumer as well as at Neiman Marcus.

“What I love about what I do is there are no logos on the outside of the bags,” she said. “If you like the silhouette, the material, the craftsmanship, you buy the bag for itself, not for a logo. That’s something that differentiates my product.”

She also channels her father in a lot of her designs. “What I love is that he made fashion fun and happy. So often in the industry, everything is so serious, and fashion takes itself too seriously in my opinion. But he just made it light. You look at the ads that he shot on the beach, and you just want to be there. He made women not only look beautiful but feel really beautiful and comfortable in their clothing, which is so incredible. You need both to have a truly successful outfit.”

That same joie de vivre translated into his private life. “He loved his friends and family,” she said. “He had a great sense of humor. He was a perfectionist, which I appreciate, but everyone who I’ve talked to just sings his praises and says that working with him was the best time of their career.”

Ellis is grateful that a half-century later, her father’s name is still well known in the fashion industry, and she credits the Feldenkreis family as respectful stewards for the brand.

“I’m really excited that the owners of Perry Ellis now are bringing it back, elevating it. I think he would be very happy,” she said.

Tyler Ellis and Gallagher sold the brand to Supreme International in 1999, a company created by George Feldenkreis and his brother in 1967. Oscar Feldenkreis, George Feldenkreis’ son and the chief executive officer of Perry Ellis International, said that in the late 1990s, Supreme was mainly a private label manufacturer. In its quest to own brands, it acquired Original Penguin in 1996, and when they heard the Perry Ellis brand was available, they offered $75 million to acquire the business.

The offer was accepted and Supreme changed its name to Perry Ellis International.

Oscar Feldenkreis said that after “exchanging dollars and cents,” they’ve remained friendly with Tyler Ellis. “She has always supported us.”

Since the acquisition, he said the company has been careful to “keep to the vision of what Perry Ellis was. We’ve always respected it.”

Today, under the design direction of Michael Miille, the plan is to grow the Perry Ellis brand both in the U.S. and overseas. “We’re very happy with the business,” Feldenkreis said. “But we’re going to focus our efforts on trying to push for more international growth.” He cited Mexico, Latin America, Europe and India as the areas with the most opportunity.

In addition to building the brand with key wholesale partners such as Macy’s, Dillard’s and Belk, he plans to grow the direct-to-consumer business — an e-commerce site recently launched in Latin America with a partner — and to open retail stores.

“There’s a lot to elevate the brand, which is very important today,” he said.

As for Tyler Ellis, although she’s not directly involved in the 50th anniversary celebrations for her father’s brand, she hopes that her own business can boast the same longevity.

So what does she want to be doing when she hits her half-century mark? She said: “I’ll hopefully be floating on the Amalfi coast somewhere.”