Monthly Archives: May 2012

London was the end of our trip and we only had three days there….one of which was work :{…… Jac had her heart set on seeing Kensington Palace the home of Diana as well as Queen Victoria [before she became queen], Princess Margret and now Prince William and his lovely bride Kate. There are actually 4 separate tours you take yourself on through the palace. For me the most interesting was the Queen Victoria  exhibit, where they had interesting stories,   personal photographs and possessions. The Diana tour wasn’t anything much………one dark room with 5 dresses in lucite cases……and not very special dresses at that. They were OK but the exhibit left us wanting more…..a lot more….we looked at each other and said….”is that all there is?” Jac took a photo of me standing in front of the gates to the palace.  There is a separate entrance, where the private apartments are, that no one sees. The gardens to the palace were very pretty, but they are fairly new to the palace…………..The photo’s on the upper right are at QVC UK. I will just say the facility isn’t quite as elaborate or large as the QVC USA headquarters, but they are moving to a brand new facility and my next show in Aug. will be from the new building. The top picture is the “models room”. I am standing in the next picture with Tanya, with the dark hair and Pirjo. Her name is pronounce like cherrio  with a P……. Perrio. I slaughtered her name every time she came out!

One of the dining rooms in the hotel, where we had breakfast, is the photo in the lower right with the red tufted banquette. The walls have these magnificent murals of these men and one woman in their Highland garb…..splendidly decked out. The walls behind the figures are gold…….. the brass chandeliers  have tartan shades and the chairs are covered in tartans too. It is a beautiful room. We saw two shows…..The 39 Steps……which I didn’t think I was going to like……but…. loved!!!!…. and “The Mouse Trap”, which I thought I was going to love, but thought it was just OK at best……even if it has been running for 60 YEARS! The streets are starting to be decorated for the Queens Jubilee, hence all the flags, but you would never know the Olympics were coming there this summer…….not a word, poster or T-Shirt……..There is only one store that has the license to sell them????? and you can get them in a shop at the airport. That’s it…….I found it strange. The other pics are of Jac as we were about to leave for the theater and the pretty building to the upper left, next to Kensington Place, is just a very pretty and famous hotel [the name escapes me], across from Kensington…………………………………….

That’s it folks…………the tour is over. Now, we are having a MAJOR paint job of the house….outside and IN, so everything is quite topsy turvy.  6 men all over the place. I will be outside this weekend planting all of the pots around the house…..many flowers have been purchased. Gotta do my part to help America’s economy….LOL……………….Be well, take care and God bless!………..much Love, Louis

This is my final set of post cards from Paris, “The City Of Light”. The lights of New York are bright and the neon is harsh, night becomes day and it is always a little frenetic. Paris is the antithesis. Driving around Paris at night is somewhat of a fantasy. It seems candle lit, with chandeliers and beautiful street lamps everywhere. You almost expect “La Vie En Rose” to be playing in the air…..it’s very romantic. The restaurants are equally romantic whether they are beautifully decorated or look some what rundown where you know history took place. Allard, is such a place. Le tour Eiffel suggested we try this bistro type restaurant, which was on a very quiet street in a very quiet neighborhood of Paris. It is very small and quite old. You can imagine characters from “Les Mis”, plotting the revolution. The photo of the interior is right above Jac and I. When we arrived only one table was taken….by the time our bottle of wine arrived the place was full. You always know a restaurant is good when the patrons are all French……and it was delicious! Another restaurant we loved was “George V”….photo in the upper right. We were pretty much early birds due to jet lag and full itineraries for the next day……so the restaurant wasn’t full when we arrived………again, by the time we had our first sip of wine, the room was filled to capacity. Jac’s little Linea shrug came in very handy. She brought it in the black and violet and wore it over little dresses. One of the things that  left me speechless was our trip to the opera house of Paris….”L’Opera”……you know “Phantom of the Opera”. We both had passed it a zillion times on our trips to Paris, but neither of us had ever been in! It is extraordinary!! It is very dark inside so it really felt like night…..every chandelier and lamp was lit and you can see Jac descending one of the many staircases in the photo at the left bottom. The theater itself is a wonder. The gilt and the painted ceiling are amazing. You can imagine the men and women dressed in their best with all of their jewels…..sitting in the red damask boxes……….one more fantasy of Paris. At the end of each wonderful evening we returned to our lovely room, and as we entered we would always see the fresh rose in the bud vase…..attached to the wall next to our door……..photo in the upper right……which was a quick reminder of just how special Paris is……………Bon Soir, Paris!

I thought I’d post the picture of the Byzantine jewelry again since all of the new pieces [except the reorder of the cross and station necklace] are now avail. for purchasing on line. I can’t tell you how pleased I am with how each piece came out. When I started doing the jewelry for QVC, I was really dreading the idea that I was going to have to compromise with the design and quality to meet the desired price points, but I am pleased to say with a lot of HANDS ON and sacrifice …….on my and my manufacturers part, I have managed to get exactly what I wanted. Of course, the original large quilted beads and some of the others beads in the original  necklace were made out of Murano glass…….but that necklace was also$400 and that was 15 years ago. Believe me when I say , from looking at them, you can’t tell the difference.  I am very excited about the new Byzantine earrings….the three for one…… a button, a Baroque pearl drop and a matching color drop. If you get two colors…..even more combinations. Since the floral maxi sold out before I had a chance to present it this past Friday, I want you to know I had planned  multiples of the station and bead necklaces on each model along with the cross….it looked incredible! These pieces are also going to look incredible with all the new offerings I have around the bend for Fall. These beads on the new tweeds….yes you read that right…..TWEEDs….looks sensational! When Jac and I were in Paris she wore the whole Byzantine set with the earrings out to dinner. A lovely “French” woman sitting at the table next to us bent over to tell Jac what beautiful jewelry she was wearing. I have to say we were really taken off guard. Another evening, wearing the same jewelry. a very chic American lady form S. Carolina did the same thing….it was very gratifying…………don’t wait too long or you will be waiting even longer ….if you know what I mean…LOL

Continuing on our walking tour of Paris….Tues. was museum day…..first stop was the Louvre museum. Originally the Louvre was the palace of the kings…….I believe all the Louis’ lived there. It really takes more than one day to “do” the Louvre, but a few hours is really all one can bare. We got there early to beat the lines, but we weren’t the only ones with that idea. The glass pyramid, which is the entrance into the museum, designed by I.M.Pei, was very controversial when it first was being built.  There were basically two camps…..many were for going forward with the new and modern concept, but the purists felt it was a sacrilege to destroy the history of the palaces of the Kings. They felt it should have been left  as close to the original as possible, instead of plopping this glass “monstrosity” in front of such a magnificent building. I have to say, as beautiful as the glass pyramid is, I’m on the side of the purist. Of course the museum is known to have the famous Leonardo Da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa” and the “Venus de Milo,” as well as “Winged Victory”. You remember the scene in “Funny Face” with Fred Astaire and Audrey Hepburn… when she came down the staircase in a beautiful red gown and Fred A. plays the photographer, taking her pic with the Winged Victory behind her…..an iconic moment in film history. Afterwards, we needed a little refreshment, so we stopped at the famous “Angelina’s” on the Rue de Rivoli. It’s a charming “tea parlor” that was opened in 1903. There is a tiny picture, upper left, of Jac standing in front of Angelina’s with her bag of “goodies”. The picture of Jac at the window, with the gauze curtains, was taken in our beautiful Hotel  room. What made the experience even better, was the wonderful view we had of the back gardens and the roof tops of Paris. Paris has some of the most magnificent gardens in the world with allees of trees and fountains where ever you look. The park above is the “Luxemberg Gardens”……it was right out of an impressionist painting. As a matter of fact, many of Seurat’s paintings were of the gardens. The fountain area was especially crowded…… where children float their sail boats and move them around with long sticks……….. We had another great day in Paris…………..

From January through May I have taken you on a “fashion trip” and what a trip it was! I hope you enjoyed it! I know I had a great time showing my designs to all of you. Now, I invite you to take a photo trip with Jac and I through PARIS!!! We had a wonderful time. Jac and I have both been in Paris a zillion times, always for work, but NEVER at the same time! So this was a first for us….to be in Paris at the same time and NO WORK….. just PLEASURE. The minute we landed in Paris, arrived at the hotel…the “Lancaster”, we showered dressed and hit the streets. We walked and walked and walked…..for three days we walked Paris!……stopping briefly along the way, snapping pictures and telling each other stories and memories we had at these special little places. It was the BEST TIME. What you are seeing above are the photos we took on our walking tour…..”ohhhhh take a picture of that”……”give me the camera I have to take a picture of that”, was how the conversation went. There are many buildings you will recognize….the Eiffel Tower, the Madeline, the Sorbonne, Notre Dame, the Palace Royale, the Arc de Triumph, the Plaza Athenee [the hotel with the red awnings, where I stayed  many times]. We stopped….. had some lunch at the famous and infamous “Cafe de Flore”, which has been there  for over 100 years. At the Palace Royale there was a Helmut Newton exhibit……a VERY famous fashion photographer. The banner advertising the show was an ICONIC photo Newton took of the model, “Vibeke”, in a ground breaking suit by Yves St Laurent. The photo was taken in the wee hours of the morning on some Paris street. How do I know this??? Vibeke told me so. I know Vibeke and love her. I used her in a few shows…..runway wasn’t really her thing [she was quite shy doing runway], but she did them for me. Once, she broke her arm and was due to do one of my fall shows. She came to the studio with her arm in a sling and the cast! She was so sorry she couldn’t do the show and I said to her “why, are your legs broken?”. A BIG smile came to face and of course she did the show….broken arm and all. We worked out exactly what she would wear and I made special slings in the coordinating fabrics. Every time she came out onto the runway there was wild applause…..she stole the show! That was a wonderful memory for me and, I know….for her. Notice the picture of Jac in the Luxemburg Gardens, standing in front of the tallest Tulips I have ever seen! I was wondering why there were red streamers draped on the statues on the Arc de Triumph [photo lower left]. The next day…. Monday….was their Memorial Day and all of Paris was having a Vacation Day……..everything….parks, restaurants and the streets,  were packed with people….great fun. I have three sets of postcards from Paris…..I hope you have enjoyed our “first day” in Paris!………………Much Love, Louis

P.S. Don’t forget to look at Jac’s face book page….Jac Dell’Olio.  She has posted more photos that she took. She has written wonderful stories with each picture of her special memories of Paris.