Patrick Kelly is considered to be one of the most unique fashion designers in the U.S. as well as in the fashion capital, Paris. He brought a style never before seen, a style with an amazing mix of his Southern background and the new age styles of Paris.
Kelly was born in 1954 in Vicksburg. He spent all of his childhood in Vicksburg being raised by his mother, a home economics teacher and his father, a fishmonger, insurance agent, and cabdriver. Studying art history, Kelly went to Jackson State University but he eventually dropped out. After working in Atlanta, Georgia with a tailor, he studied at Parsons School of Design to start his fashion career.
In addition to relentless selling of his designs on the streets, Kelly began to work a variety of jobs: designing for a Rive Gauche boutique and for Benetton and designing costumes at the Palais nightclub. Ultimately, he became one of the most well-known designers in Paris. The French, being so impressed, made him the first American designer ever to be elected to the Chambre Syndicale, a group of the most famous Paris designers.
Kelly did not spend much of his adult life in Mississippi, but it has been with him all throughout his life. Mississippi has been a major inspiration to his designing. Mississippian's clothing has always been considered simple and very Southern. No one ever considered them to be fashionable, even Mississippians themselves. Kelly, however, changed everyone’s way of thinking. He used the clothing styles of Mississippi to make some of the most brilliant fashion designs ever seen.
Kelly died on January 1, 1990, in Paris of a brain tumor and bone marrow disease. Kelly was very well-liked and is missed by many. A memorial was held for Patrick Kelly on March 28, 1990 by the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York. The windows of the 7th Avenue showrooms were filled with his creations. Patrick Kelly will never be forgotten for he shown a new light on the world of fashion and especially on Mississippi. Kelly proved that if one reaches for the stars there is no telling where one may go.
Through September of 2004, Kelly's work is the subject of an exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.