James Perse's Malibu Store Offers Simple Elegance
The guiding principle of James Perse’s fashion is simplicity, but his business got complicated in the last week. His fashion line is riding a wave of new retail activity.
On July 2, the 32-year-old designer opened his third James Perse boutique in the Malibu Country Mart shopping center in Malibu, Calif. The mart is home to a growing roster of influential contemporary casual fashion boutiques, including Lisa Kline Men, Planet Blue, Ron Herman, Madison and Crush.
The week before, he opened a James Perse boutique in New York. His first store, which debuted in 2003, is located in West Hollywood, Calif., across the street from Maxfield, the pioneering high-fashion boutique owned by his father, Tommy Perse.
James Perse took a moment to reflect on his retail direction during the July 2 boutique debut party on the lush lawn of the Malibu Country Mart. Perse said he will take some time off to relax and then will think about building a few more U.S. stores: possibly one more in New York, one in the San Francisco Bay area and one in the South. He also said he is interested in building a boutique hotel sometime in the future.
Currently, the possibilities are growing for Perse’s line of casualwear, which he forecasted will earn $40 million in 2005. In addition to presenting the crisp, thin T-shirts that made his label popular, Perse introduced his line of surfwear at the 1,000-square-foot Malibu store. He said he hopes his version of the surf look will bring the style back to its California roots.“A lot of people forgot what surfwear was about. A lot of it is streetwear-oriented now,” he said.
Perse said he wants his boardshorts, bikinis and towels to evoke the Malibu surf scene of the 1950s. Early surf style, he noted, dovetails with his aesthetic. “We’re about simplicity. No one’s doing it anymore,” he said. Price points range from $50 for a “Malibu” T-shirt to $125 for boardshorts. —Andrew Asch
