Australian fashion designer Alex Perry has shared intimate details about his early career, his marriage and his Greek roots in a rare personal interview.
The 59-year-old, who has dressed the likes of Kourtney Kardashian, J.Lo and Simone Holtznagel, doesn’t often speak about private matters or his pre-fame life.
But he told The Sydney Morning Herald his wife Mary, whom he married at age 24, was actually a driving force in the early days of his multimillion-dollar fashion empire.
Opening up: Australian fashion designer Alex Perry (left) has shared intimate details about his early career, his marriage to his wife Mary (right) and his Greek roots in a rare personal interview
Describing their different strategies to business, he said: ‘She is methodical and likes to plan. I make decisions in an instant and go with my gut.’
Perry’s instincts at times led their marriage into dangerous territory, especially when he made risky career decisions without checking in with Mary first.
‘I don’t know how she didn’t kick me out,’ he confessed.
In many interviews, Alex has told stories about their first meeting. He first met his future wife in the 80s at a friend’s wedding in Sydney. According to the designer, she looked gorgeous with a strapless dress and bob haircut.
At first sight, Perry knew that Mary was the one. However, he thought that his now-wife was way out of his league.
Yet he couldn’t resist himself and went to talk with her. Although this lovely couple is happily married since 1987, Alex had to work hard to win his wifey’s heart.
Furthermore, their love story was nothing like movies because Mary refused when Alex first asked her out. Nonetheless, everything worked out for the couple and they have now been married for more than thirty years.
Starting his first business in 1992, Perry said Mary was his ‘rock’ as he built the brand up from nothing.
After making his name on the red carpet thanks to his dazzling silhouettes and ultra-feminine designs, Perry became a bona fide celebrity when he starred on TV shows like Australia’s Next Top Model, Project Runway and Real Housewives of Melbourne.
Greek-Australian Perry, whose real name is Alexandros Pertsinidis, grew up in a working-class family in Sydney.
He credits his passionate work ethic to his mother, Poppy, who worked her way up the ranks in business from a receptionist to an executive role.
In 2015, Perry and his wife opened the Alex Perry Hotel Apartments, a four-and-a-half-star, 12-storey luxury accommodation complex in Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley.
