Author: Louis Dell'Olio

……………………………The VENUS SHELL PENDANT, for me is as mesmerizing as the painting…..you just can’t stop looking at it………Each REAL shell is HAND PAINTED, so no two are exactly the same color, but they are very close. It’s like a rainbow……Nor is each shell exactly the same size because they are after all real and from nature. They will vary within 1/4 inch………Each shell is rimmed in GOLD with a gold bale. The round smooth beads of the necklace are all glass. I chose paler colors to compliment the colors of the shells, but not compete with the Venus shell……..As you can see from the photos above, there is very little that doesn’t look great with this unique piece of jewelry………………..This is something you do not own, and will become a welcome addition to your Linea Jewelry Collection………It is now avail. on the Linea QVC jewelry site………………………enjoy………………………..much Love………………………….Louis

……………… A little Sunday reading……..Somersault to most of you, Cat to me, had asked me if I could post this picture of the Anne Klein Couture Swarovski crystal dress that I designed, and the story behind it. She remembered that I had mentioned it a while back………….I thought with so much time on my hands you would all enjoy looking back at my 1991 Couture Fall Anne Klein Collection. This was exactly one year before I left the company after twenty years… It’s unbelievable that this was 29 years ago!……………………………………

When I graduated high school, before I started to go to Parsons School of Design in the Fall, my uncle Paul who was a big deal in the Ladies Garment Union [a very powerful union], got me a summer job at Norman Norell. I really new very little about designers and who they were, so I had no idea that Norman Norell was the premiere most prestigious American designer. I was just an 18 year old kid from Long Island with a certain amount of talent, who got into a design school. I had a lot to learn…….So off I went to 550 7th Ave, between 39th and 40th streets. This was THE BUILDING to be in if you were an important designer. Everyone wanted a floor in this grand building but few had them . Right across the street was the original Metropolitan Opera House! There were still gas lights surrounding the building. I remember looking at it in awe. Shortly after that summer the beautiful building was torn down and a modern, typical building took its’ place. I remember thinking all of that history, ALL of the WORLD FAMOUS performers who entertained all of the the people who came to see them, was gone forever. I was very said, but happy that at my young age I was able to see it before it was destroyed.  So many people don’t even know that it existed like so many other incredible buildings that were torn down. I have found You Tube to be a great source of information concerning historical places that no longer exist…..There were  so many incredible buildings that were once the height of NY that became relics of an age gone by…….I remember the first time I stepped off the elevator on the 15th floor in my navy blazer and khaki pants, my white button down and tie, and stepped onto the diamond pattern marble floor! The air was infused with Norell Perfume….It was intoxicating. I knew at once I was entering the world of Mr. Normal Norell. I was overwhelmed and excited. My summer at the House of Norell was a dream, but that is another story………………………………………………………………………

One day I was summoned by a seamstress and was told I had to bring one of Mr. Norell’s famous Mermaid dresses into his office for a fitting. I was shaking…….I walked in and the head sample maker, Josephine, was standing there with Mr. Norell, and his number one model and muse Claudia. She was in a tiny bra and little panties. I had this incredible pale blue sequin dress draped over my two out stretched arms, and turned BEET RED. I could feel my face and ears get HOT….They gently laughed and could see I was embarrassed. Josephine took the dress from me that I was holding like some precious offering, and I left the room. These dresses were NEVER hung. after the fitting Josephine carried it back to the sample room with the pins in it and handed it to one of the sample makers. When she was done it was wrapped in tissue and put into a labeled box for storage…..until taken out again for the show. These “Mermaid ” dresses were made in silk jersey from France, and each sequin was sewn on INDIVIDUALLY!!!! There were thousands of them….There was no chain stitch holding multiple sequins, that if broken the whole row came off……NO, if a sequin happened to come off a Mermaid dress only that one sequin would fall. These dresses were incredibly weightless! The fabric and the manner in which each sequin was sewn made it so. Needless to say these dresses were a fortune, and only the richest women and movie actresses, like Lauren Bacall who new M. Norell well, wore them………The Norell perfume will always be my absolute favorite sent, bar none. It just smelled RICH, and had a unique aroma due to the extremely expensive ingredients……..I purchased two bottles for my mother. It became her favorite too. I still have two unopened bottles, but you can still smell the fragrance. It smells exactly the same, and has not changed or soured with age…..After Mr. Norell’s death the perfume was sold to Revlon……They changed the ingredients to make it less expensive and ruined it…..another thing gone with the wind……..Mr. Norell would have been crushed………I worked there in the summer of 1966…………………………………………………………………..

Jump ahead to 1991. For my Anne Klein Couture Collection I divided it in to two color groups…..The first group was BLACK, IVORY, TAUPE, and BORDEAUX. The BLACK and IVORY bridged into the second group of VIVID COLORS…………….For evening I also had two groups in the same colors…………Norell was part of my psyche, and I always had something on my collections inspired by my mentor…………….On this collection I did The MERMAID dress, but instead of sequins it was covered in Swarovski crystals. I made two dresses one was all black JET and the other was all Clear CRYSTALS [the dress above]. It was a long sheath dress with a band TN collar as Norell always did. It had a high slit. I had my shoe company make two pumps one covered in he Black Jets and the other in the Swarovski crystals so they would match perfectly. I had the AK Hosiery co. make semi sheer tights black and in a silver white to match the dress. I didn’t want nude legs to distract from the dress. It was all to look like one column. The AK jewelry company made the jewelry accessories. It was all as I had wanted it to be. My vision had come to life.. One day I was summoned into the presidents office.  As they said the machine was well greased so impromptu meetings rarely happen.. I had no clue what this was about since I usually wasn’t bothered as we were preparing for a show. He calmly asked me to sit in the chair in front of him…OH OH….something was up. He handed me a bill for the embroidery costs. They were astronomical. I could feel myself get red. He asked me if I had seen the bill, and I replied no, but I said I see  what the bill was for. He looked at me straight in the eye and said, “this must be some hell of a dress” and smiled. He wasn’t happy but let me get off easy….PHEW!!!…….The dress retailed for $15,000. It was the most expensive garment I ever made at AK. Of course not one store would buy it, but we took special orders at Trunk shows. We sold SIX of them…two in NY, two in LA, one in Dallas or Houston, can’t remember, and one in Chicago. The president was very pleased. The dresses paid for themselves and then some!….I remember fitting the dress on Jac, and I nervously asked her if it was unbearably heavy…..She shrugged her shoulders and said she wore heavier ones in Europe. She said if anyone is lucky enough to wear a dress like this they don’t care or even feel the weight….That is not until they get home and take it off!

Jac was the Finale of the show. I waited for Anna Anderson, a tall Swedish blond model that Jac was often paired with in Europe, to leave the stage in the Black Jet gown, and made sure the stage was empty for Jac to make her entrance. Her gleaming blond hair was all swept back, her eye shadow was blacked and her lips were RED……As Jac stepped out onto the runway there was an instant roar. She brought the house down as I knew she would…………… This was a moment I will always remember………………I still get goose bumps………………..

She was so proud and looked absolutely amazing…….Jac wore the dress one more time at the Metropolitan of Art Costume Ball. In those earlier years of the Ball it took place around Christmas. As we exited the limo Jac left her coat in the car so she wouldn’t cover the dress. We walked up the grand stair case with Jac on my arm……..This time I was so proud, and yes she looked absolutely……AMAZING

………………..The first group to start the show was my BLACK, TAUPE, IVORY and BORDEAUX group. All of the fabrics were developed in either Italy or France, and all of the knitwear came from Italy. The pattern jacket fabrics were made in a very exclusive mill who’s main client was Armani. I loved working with them because they were so creative and loved clients who gave them a challenge. I worked with the owner who was a very talented woman. Her daughter, Allesandra, also worked with us and was the interpreter…..The Mother spoke no English and my Italian wouldn’t have gotten us very far. Allesandra  was very talented too, and had inherited her mother and father’s sense of style.. Mixing yarns was their forte, and I loved that. We managed to create wonderful things and she always looked forward to my visits, because she knew I was a creator, and didn’t just come to see what she had as other designers did. She would hand them off to a sales person. These designers were never invited to the inner sanctum where all the creative things happened. The pattern jackets at the upper left in Taupe and Black were Wool and Chennile, and the Bordeaux jacket fabrics at the extreme right were all made by her too. Some of you still have my solid chennile jackets. That fabric was inspired by the solid Bordeaux chennile. The blouse in Bordeaux and Black at the extreme right was made out of georgette and chenille…..The same lady made it in the same swirl design as the jacket on Christie to Elaine’s left.. It was superb.The Taupe and Black sweater was made in Italy in a similar pattern as the jackets above. It too was in chennile and wool, and it took days to work out the pattern in the sweater mill. The giant check in black and white was made in France. Chanel used this company for many of their tweeds. They unfortunately closed many years ago when the owner passed away. A true loss. They still made fabrics on old wooden looms and the fabric was made by hand. That’s why they were able to be so intricate with sometimes 8 or 9 different yarns and colors in one fabric…The building where the looms were and all of the hundreds of bins where the yarns were categorized was completely made of wood, and looked like something out of a movie. All that comes to mind was the movie Kiss Me Kate with Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton when he’s chasing her through the storage house with all the bales of yarn…It sort of looked like that without the bales! The beautiful tweed suit fabric at the lower left was made in Norther Italy. The same region that was devastated by the virus. The two wool crepe suits at the lower right was a signature fabric that my customers just couldn’t get enough of. That fabric too was made in the devastated area. Leather was always a part of my fall collection. It came from either Italy or France. The gorgeous white coat in the center with the Trapunto stitched hem was in Angora and wool. It felt amazing. Underneath was a black stretch velvet TN and black stretch velvet PANT BOOTS, but more about them later……..These were the good old days….the Golden Days when 7th Ave was still the center of the Fashion industry…………………..Unfortunately we can’t hold back time…..I sometimes wonder about the “Golden Days” when it was all wonderful, like the Golden Days of Hollywood, and why it all went away……..What happened?

……………….This was a fantastic group…..First the taupe, black and Bordeaux group opened the show….then some black and white outfits to cleanse the pallet……and then WHAM…..COLOR, COLOR and MORE COLOR….To say they were shocked out of there seats is an understatement. They loved it all, and it was so exciting after seeing all of the black taupe and Bordeaux…..From left to right…The fuchsia and Green sweaters with zip off sleeves and cowl….I did this sweater years ago for QVC……Below the fuchsia and green wool crepe suits with nugget gold buttons. I did those buttons for QVC too…….The royal, kelly green and chrome HAND KNIT sweaters were teamed with matching leggings and thigh high matching SUEDE BOOTS. Below them is another hand knit TWEED sweater with a huge cowl. The TWEED COAT, BLAZER and TWEED skirt. I used this yarn for the hand knit sweater… All of the tweed fabrics were made in the same French factory as the Black and White giant check. These fabrics were unbelievably beautiful….all hand loomed. These tweeds were done in three different color combinations and each set of colors were different patterns so none of the jackets or coats were the same pattern. These pieces got lots of editorial coverage….Below were wool and cashmere large windowpane jackets with wool crepe pleated skirts…….Next to them the lady in RED ….The wool crepe pantsuit with slim pants………………..The STRIPE COAT in these colors was a gem, and the big gold nugget buttons made by my jewelry people, set the stripe  coat off perfectly. Nadege looked adorable in it……Looking back I can’t believe all of the planning, and the  work and effort it took by so many to achieve my dream…….The clothes, the shoes, the jewelry, the hosiery and the gloves and hand bags took months and months to come to fruition……………..and then the show… I did’t ever use a stylist and frankly never understood why any designer would……I had a vision from day one….OK maybe day three, but it was mine and I didn’t need anyone to monkey around with it……There were and are designers who just designed clothes, [but  don’t get me wrong…that’s an enormous feat in itself], and needed stylists to put it all together and give their show a look. In all fairness they didn’t have the resources. They don’t have licencees who can make the things I wanted for the shows….so a stylist became necessary….Many weren’t good with that part of the creative process. The stylists are responsible for getting the accessories and even casting the models!……That was not the way for me. Getting the collection finished PLUS organizing everything else was so draining…..Working with the make up people the hair people, the music people, the lighting and set design people started weeks in advance. These meetings all took place while I was designing the collection, but in the evening after my sample rooms closed for the night. A week before the show the sample rooms never closed and dinners were brought in! The lighting people were always a pain in the butt. It was daunting. The lighting people always wanted this horrible blue lighting which was perfect for their videos but made the models and the clothes look terrible. I always insisted on warm gels over the lights…Every show was the same fight. They would tell me the video would be bad, and I’d say that I’d prefer a bad video to a bad show! I always won!!!….Then I started putting the “looks” together. I usually used Jac and two other models. We did this at night when everything was quite and no disturbances. My assistants were always with me…..Every look was registrated with every thing that would be worn….jewelry, hats, shoes, tights, gloves etc. The look and accessories were hung in individual long clear garment bags with the picture and instructions on it. Each model was assigned her own dresser. In those days I showed at least 150 looks…..This was an enormous undertaking. These bags were checked and rechecked until they left for the venue…….Then, on the day of the show I started at 6am, got to the venue where they had been working since 3am getting the stage and lights up. It had to be ready by 8- 8:30 when the models would arrive for rehearsal……What a bleep bleep nightmare. Twenty nine to thirty four divas and one angel, Jac would come sauntering in. I had people who were in charge of wrangling them up and getting them going. We would do a rehearsal with out the clothes just to stage so the models new what they were supposed to do, and also established lighting and music cues….The models would hold part of their outfits on a hanger so I knew where to place them…Some designers hired companies to direct the shows….I was the DIRECTOR!.This would take a good two hours, then an hour break for lunch where the hair people and make up people would start doing their thing while the girls were eating. After lunch a full dress rehearsal….OMG. Everything that could go wrong during these rehearsals did!!! Then the models were released to finish their make up and hair and relax….My work was not done….we would go over the lighting cues and music cues and work with the people who were responsible for lining the models up and sending them out on cue….over and over and over again until everyone had it down pat. Eventually it was show time. We did two shows back to back with an hour in between.. The first show was for Magazine editors, celebrities, and A list stores…..The second show was for everyone else!…………….Some how….the shows always went off perfectly as if no effort was put into them at all….that’s the way it should look. The show ended, the models went home after a full day. I booked them for the whole day, and other designers were not happy, but the models rather get one big check than many little ones, and they didn’t have to run all over NYC. The sets were torn down the clothes were packed up and brought back to the show room, and I would start the next day about 10-10:30am after everything was unpacked and brought into the show room. I would put the clothes on the rackets according to groups and the way they looked best. Then everything was marked so the sales people knew exactly where they should go. When you have a showroom filled with buyers and the racks are being torn apart it is very important to be organized or else it all looks like a huge mess…….I would work with the big stores, and when I could Jac and I would go away for  week or just stay at home and unwind………………….Then…………………..it started all over again!!!

Do I miss it???? I miss the designing without restrictions….where everything you can dream can come true………….But……………Things have changed and the Golden Days are long gone. It takes a younger person than I am to do what must be done…..The hours…..the traveling….the going to all the different factories takes its’ tole……..I had a great run, but I could never, nor would I want to do it again……Without Jac it would be impossible. I always knew when things were at their darkest Jac would always say or do the right thing to get me through. The saying “behind every man is a great woman” was so so true.

This was just a small part of the group, but these items were shot for many magazines…….The SATIN TRENCH COATS were truly amazing. They also came in Royal Blue. Whitney Houston wore the yellow trench with the yellow satin thigh high boots and gloves for one of her record covers. They were also in many magazines……….Below the trenches are a series of stretch velvet TNs [though you can only see the orange], and the STRETCH VELVET PANT BOOTS. They were leggings and shoes all in one. The velvet pant came down and completely covered the shoe. They all had GOLD FLAT HEELS…..Iris Apfel bought a few pair in different colors. She LOVED them, and they were featured in the Metropolitan Museum when they had an exhibition of her own clothes and accessories. She showed the green ones in the show. They are also in the book of her exhibit…………………..The ORANGE and CHROME yellow jacket fabric to the right were made by a mill, are you ready….in Scotland……They were a treasure, and they too made many of the Chanel Tweeds…………As a matter of fact Karl Lagerfeld of Chanel was using the same “TINSEL TWEED” fabric for his 1991 fall show. At first the mill wasn’t going to let me use it because of the conflict with Chanel, but when I told him I wanted it in 4 vivid colors he changed his mind. Chanel was doing it in dark forest green and a dark wine color, and you could hardly tell they were the same fabric. In those days America showed first then England, Italy and France….so I was thrilled to get the scoop on Lagerfeld…………not that he would know, but I did!