In 1974 Atlanta, Kelly supported himself by working at an
AMVETS thrift shop, where he had access to donated designer dresses and coats that he modified and sold alongside his own designs. He ultimately had his own store in the city's
Buckhead district. He also worked fashion shows at the Atlanta Hilton with upcoming super model
Iman and established a modeling agency and clothing line under the name Longboy. In 1979, he reconnected with the pioneering Black supermodel
Pat Cleveland, who admired the clothing he was making and encouraged him to move to
New York City. He enrolled at Parsons School of Design as a fashion design student but after a lackluster year there Cleveland urged him to move to Paris and left a plane ticket at his door. Kelly found his footing in Paris as a costume designer for Le Palace nightclub, being offered the position by Black choreographer Larry Vickers whom he had met on his flight there. To make ends meet he sold dresses, often handsewn, to friends and models as well as homemade chicken dinners. He soon developed his signature slinky, brightly colored jersey dresses adorned with colored buttons and bows in a nod to the sophisticated cut-rate style of the Southern women of his childhood. In an interview, the store's buyer said, "Patrick landed like a bomb in my shop in 1985. He was so gay and so full of energy, and so were his clothes." Also in 1985, the French edition of
Elle Magazine covered Kelly with a six-page spread in its February issue. During this period, he began to acquire celebrity
couture clients, such as
Bette Davis,
Paloma Picasso,
Grace Jones,
Madonna,
Cicely Tyson and
Goldie Hawn. He also participated in a notable collaboration with jewelry designer
David Spada, one product of which was one of Kelly's most famous designs, a
Josephine Baker-inspired ensemble with a banana skirt now in the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. In 1987, the
Warnaco fashion conglomerate signed an agreement to manufacture Kelly's clothing. With Warnaco's backing, Kelly designs were soon available in stores throughout the world. That year, his sales approached $7 million. With the support of designer
Sonia Rykiel, Kelly was admitted in 1988 to the prestigious
Chambre syndicale du prêt-à-porter des couturiers et des créateurs de mode. His young label thus became an official colleague of brands such as
Yves Saint Laurent,
Chanel and
Christian Dior. Kelly sought inclusiveness in the clothes he designed, telling
People Magazine in 1987, "I design for fat women, skinny women, all kinds of women. My message is, you're beautiful just the way you are." At his March, 1987 show, one of his models was eight months pregnant. By 1989, Kelly was at the height of his success, producing his line for Warnaco in addition to other contracts—including one for
Benetton—while developing plans for lingerie, perfume and menswear lines. ==Legacy==