From Louis

……………………..The STRIPED WOOL CREPE TOPPER in BLACK and WHITE over a Red sweater and Red Crepe pants…….made a strong statement……..The addition of the Anne Klein STRIPED SHOES was the icing on the cake! They were pieced together leather. Working with Andrea Pfister, by this time was symbiotic. We had worked together for 16 years of my 20 years at AK. We worked very close on creating the shoe collection. I would send him the colors and fabric swatches of the collection and sketches of my ideas of what I envisioned of both the clothes and shoes….anything to get his creative juices flowing!…Due to when the shoe collection had to open, and my availability to spend two weeks in Positano working with Andrea, the shoes were developed well before the clothes! I had to do a lot of pre-planning on what the collection would be. I could always add some styles later if it was absolutely necessary or a brilliant idea happened. We could always rush new samples through……The crepe coat was perfectly matched all the way around….including the lining!…….Giselle above, was a fantastic French model….. She wasn’t beautiful as the Super Models were, but she had an incredible look, an infectious smile, a wonderful figure, and could move like very few could. Designers loved her and she was booked by many to do looks on, and of course all of the shows…..When a designer did looks on her she brought the clothes to life because of her animation, and the way she understood the clothes and how they should move………She was inspiring……It was just second nature for her to STRIKE A POSE!…………………VISUAL EXCITEMENT!!!!

……………………The use of BANDING could be interpreted in many ways………The two sweater dresses above are good examples. The solid Black dress to the left used banging to create a bare back with an “H” in the form of the straps. The dress to the right uses banding to divide colors, as Mondrian did in his paintings………The models are wearing triple link black resin earrings, bracelets, and thong flats with RED triangular pieces of leather on the instep are on the model at the right.

………………..Stripes as a detail became an important theme on the Spring 1991 collection…..The wool crepe suit at the left on Christy was perfectly cut and perfectly executed. The jacket had hidden very flat buttons which buttoned the opposite way they normally do….They buttoned towards the body so the front was completely flat. The back of the jacket was exactly like the front with the Black racing stripe down the center back and the red banding continued from the front. This became Sak’s 5th Ave’s Spring Ad in their National Campaign and Vogue Magazine…….The fashion director LOVED this suit and bought it for herself…..The Lipstick Red short jacket at the right, with the cut away bottom, was very simple….and the hardest jackets to create. It closely followed the shape of the body, and had a gold ball zipper pull that my jewelry company made…….The crepe pant, had a front zip and a side racing stripe. The pant could also be worn with the jacket to the left, and many other things on the Spring collection. These were bold clothes, and for women who wanted to make a strong statement.

……………….The inspiration of Mondrian and other Modern Artists played a big part of this Spring 1991 collection………The pieces above were made in a fine wool crepe that was made for me by an Italian Mill called Fila [not to be confused with the sportswear company]. I worked very closely with a woman name Magda Ferrare, who I am still in touch with all these years later. She even bought LINEA!!!  The sleeveless dress and coat to the left were engineered so the stripes of the dress lined up with the stripes of the open front coat……Even the lining of the coat had a pieced together stripe lining that lined up with the outside of the coat. These special attentions to detail is what makes designer clothes…..The Checker Board Sleeveless dress “seams” so simple……….but………each seam of each box was shaped to give the dress a gentle silhouette, or it would have been a boxy chemise……..These clothes were all about precision and expert workmanship.

………………………..I decided after posting the Linea 2012 collection it was time for another Anne Klein retrospective…..This is the SPRING 1991 collection. REMEMBER these clothes were done THIRTY YEARS AGO, and my portrait was also THIRTY YEARS AGO!!!!!! LOL!!!!!……..Spring and Fall were the two major shows of the year. They were huge and costly undertakings. The venue had to be booked, the models had to be booked, the lighting crew and the music crew all had to be hired. The hair and make up people had to be booked, and dressers had to be hired to dress the 30 to 35 models depending on the size of the show. My shows were all day affairs with two rehearsals. One for staging so the models knew what they were to do, and the second was a full dress rehearsal. After the dress rehearsal it was break time for lunch, and the hair and make up began. They were usually booked from 8am to 5pm. They loved doing my shows because they didn’t have to run all over the city. Of course the other designers who had shows the same day didn’t love me too much for keeping the models all day! Work had begun at 5 or 6 am setting up the stage, lighting and backdrop, so when the models arrived, which sometimes was like herding sheep, we could start the first rehearsal….. The light crews and music crews were still at work during the rehearsals…The chairs were being set up and names and gift bags put on each chair….The clothes were being unpacked and steamed if necessary. They were all brought over to the venue by truck on rolling racks. There were usually two models assigned to each rack so there were a lot of racks to be set up….. The hair and make up people were setting up back stage….it was madness! With all this going on I had to direct the models on what to do, where to stand and when to walk the runway with music cues for each of their 4  or 5 changes. I never used a choreographer to stage my shows. I always did it myself. Who knew better than me how I wanted it to look, and which models  should walk together down the runway or who should be solo. In those days the shows were much longer with 100 to 120 outfits. I usually used a megaphone and had assistants also guiding the girls…..who never listened!!!! Some how when the show started they all knew exactly what to do. They were the “Super Models”, and super they were……When all was over with the show the new project began…..organizing the new “Look Book”……Meetings began with Connie, the art director and Torkel the photographer took place…….How should the book look?….It had to reflect the mood of the collection. Then the studio, the models….the make up and hair people had to be booked, and we started all over again……….Spring 1991 was on it’s way.