All-American elegance is the defining vision in the creations of James Purcell.

Like Mainbocher, Norell, Halston and Blass, James Purcell grew up in Indiana. His fashion sense is innate, the result of growing up with eight opinionated sisters and a style-conscious mother who was a customer of Chicago’s Marshall Field 28 Shop (where Dior’s revolutionary New Look had debuted, and incited protests, in the United States). His early career was in finance, and living in New York allowed him to experience and be inspired by the work of Perry Ellis, whose runway shows he would attend and whose clothes he collected.

With a solid grounding in business and a dream he decided to move forward with his true passion – design. He made the leap from Wall Street to Seventh Avenue. What followed were modern, elegant silhouettes in luxurious fabrics with beautiful detailing, coupled with an understanding of women who buy fine clothes. Often he had the American exclusive on fabrics used by European haute couture houses such as Chanel, Yves St. Laurent, Valentino and Christian Lacroix. He won the prestigious Chicago Gold Coast Fashion Award in his first year in business.

Fashion icon Bill Blass once advised him not to lose his midwestern sensibility. Surprising advice from such a sophisticated, urbane man, but it served James well. Indeed, James was approached twice to take over at Blass.

More recently he has relied on his business background, advising well-known celebrities who became designers how to start, build and brand a fashion business. James has expanded his role as a television commentator on fashion and developed expertise as a media image strategist specializing in advising elected officials and candidates for office.