Fashion designer Alex Perry has given a rather blunt explanation of why his brand never caught on in Australia.
Perry launched her eponymous brand in 1992 and quickly rose to fame for her opulent red carpet dresses and jeweled corsets.
Yet Perry, 59, says his designs were never ‘cool enough’ to really take off in the Australian market, which forced him to move overseas.
Australian designer Alex Perry, 59 (pictured), says his brand is ‘not cool enough’ to be popular Down Under
“I was never the one to watch, or the cool one, it was always about these other designers. But I kept thinking, ‘I make really good clothes and I think that ‘They’re really beautiful,’ the Australian Next Top Model judge told Sunday Confidential.
While Perry’s clothes are stocked at both Myer and David Jones, he says his clothes just aren’t appealing to Australian shoppers.
“So I started looking at what I was doing and I thought ‘you know what, I think I’m pretty cool’, but that’s in a glamorous way, not what cool is defined as here” , did he declare.
“I was never the one to watch, or the cool one, it was always about these other designers. But I kept thinking, ‘I make really good clothes and I think they’re really beautiful,” Australia’s Next Top Model judge told Sunday Confidential. Pictured: Kourtney Kardashian wearing an Alex Perry dress
“I always thought, I’m not sure…I don’t know if they’re going to want my clothes overseas,” Perry added.
Perry has since found huge success selling internationally and is stocked in luxury retailers around the world.
The long list of celebrities who regularly sport her dresses on the red carpet boosts her appeal overseas, including Jennifer Lopez, Hailey Bieber, Gwyneth Paltrow, Megan Fox and Lupita Nyong’o.
Perry has since found huge success selling internationally and is stocked in luxury retailers around the world. Pictured: Hayley Bieber wearing an Alex Perry dress
Perry once confessed on The Kyle & Jackie O Show that he was more excited about turning down potential celebrity clients than listing his list of high-profile clients.
Speaking to the breakfast radio hosts, Kyle Sandilands asked: “Are you getting away with saying I got dressed [so-and-so]…?’
‘I take more pleasure in telling people ‘No, we’re not going to dress you up!’” admitted Alex with a laugh.
Perry once confessed on The Kyle & Jackie O Show that he was more excited about refusing to suit potential celebrity clients than listing his list of high-profile clients.
It is also described how the process works when it comes to dressing a celebrity.
“In most cases, with all the international girls, their stylists call clothes and they call it from all over the world,” he said of the clothing stars, “so you never really know until actually happen,” he explained.
“I remember with Jennifer Lopez I saw the room they had all the clothes in and I thought ‘there’s no way we’re going..[be the choice]”I mean there were hundreds of dresses in there.”
Perry dresses some of the most famous women in the world, including Jennifer Lopez (pictured here in one of her designs)
“So when that happens, it’s like a real ‘pinch me’ moment.
Perry said that until a celebrity actually walks the runway at a red carpet, he’s never quite sure if her dress will be the one they choose – even if it was custom-made for the event. ‘event.
“It’s part of what this job is,” he admitted.
Local fan: Former Miss Universe star and model Jennifer Hawkins is close friends with Perry and is pictured here wearing one of her dresses on the runway at the Myer Spring Summer 2015 launch