Yearly Archives: 2021

…………………… The second group of August 2001…..had even more suede with appliques, and another blazer coat with zig zag seams, and a long A-line suede skirt with zig zag seaming……..A silk charmuse shirt with leaf patterned emb and a sweater with embroidered leaves and vines going across the top was also part of this group. There were two prints both on silk satin charmuse….a floral and an Heraldic  pattern……and yet another tunic shirt, which were growing stronger and stronger in popularity……another style I introduced to QVC to go with my leggings!….LOL

……………………….Dear Ladies…..I was browsing though the Linea site and to my utter surprise this RIDING JACKET, A384508, which is now reduced to the incredible price of $66.42, it STILL avail in may sizes in all colors………LADIES…..this is one of my all time favorites and it’s is in the TCF and the workmanship is unsurpassed. The shape and length works for everyone. Big ladies look smaller and everyone looks like they are wearing a custom made jacket. I see the plaid in the Pine/Black and now the Red/Navy is almost gone. Don’t let this beauty slip through your fingers!!!!!! There are no more jackets coming…..ever! and this is too too good to pass up……..I bring it to your attention because it’ that good and I don’t want you to be sorry later!………………

P.S………same for the double zip TCF TOPPER. I can’t believe it’s still avail in that gorgeous Scarlet Red!

…………………The July 2001 group was inspired by Kilim rugs….their patterns and the colors…….Starting at the upper left is a Silk CD color block tunic shirt. In those days there were no minimums on how many colors you could do….There were 5 colors in this shirt….That would be impossible today unless it was a shirt well over $300 in silk.. The next sketch is that of my silk Kilim print tunic shirt. It came in two color combinations, and I have to say the quality of printing rivaled the factories in Italy. What many of the Italian companies did was make deals with these silk producing companies in China. If the Chinese factory kept supplying the Italian companies with the raw silk fabric unfinished [the Italians preferred to finish and print the fabrics themselves to get the hand exactly the way they wanted them], the Italians would send technicians over to the Chinese factories to teach them how to finish and print their own fabrics. I think the Italians were arrogant enough to think the Chinese could not ever come up to their standards and quality…..they were wrong……the Chinese learned QUICKLY! Years later when the Chinese government raised all of the prices of silk, even the raw silk, the Italians were screwed.  To combat this the Italians opened secondary less expensive divisions. They sent the prints over to China and the Chinese printed them and shipped them back to Italy on the Chinese silk. Since it was a Chinese product it was much less expensive. These were half the price of the Italian “Couture” print lines. Anne Klein 11 bought some of these prints, but most were done directly in China. Anne Klein Couture stayed with the Italian Couture lines. What the Chinese lacked, and still lack is creativity where prints are concerned. At AK11 and at Lai Apparel we always sent the prints for them to copy and produce. They are excellent at that….  Next to that is a zig zag intargia sweater in cotton acrylic……..next a fabulous unlined suede jacket. All of the seams were  CROCHETED together with a rayon yarn that had a sheen to it. These were very popular and were reordered a few seasons. I remember black with red and turquoise with rust being reorder colors……Next was a tunic shirt sweater in the cotton/acrylic, and next it’s companion short sleeve TN, my first twin set for QVC…LOL…..At the very bottom right is another random stripe silk shirt. [this may be a reorder from the previous years stripe shirt in new colors, memory fails]. There was also a long suede skirt [sketch #2], and a pair of pull-on knit pants and long straight knit skirt in colors to go with the group.

I have decided there has been enough commentary about my statement. I will trash all comments whether they agree or disagree, pro or con with what I said. I see now that it was a big mistake and opened the door to all kinds of statements, both true and false. A lot of assumptions have been made about what I believe in, and from comments made I can see it goes far beyond what I said….so I will put an end to it on my website…I will trash any references because we should ALL MOVE ON…..I’s rather not be a policeman of my own website so please refrain…….I hope you understand.

…………………….The theme for the May 2001 group was the beginning of one of my reoccurring themes through out the years…….SAFARI………I introduced a rayon/linen blend for jackets, skirts and a dress. It’s a fabric that everyone liked and I used it in different ways for many years. This group had many interesting fabrics…..starting at the top, next to the chart is a shirt in a Leopard print. I believe it ended up being printed on a silk georgette….next to that is a charmuse burnout crocodile pattern fabric. the sheer and the silk satin was so beautiful…..it draped amazingly. It was BI-COLORED!!! The sheer was olive color and the satin croco was in a grayed orchid a grayed pale peach and a sage. Next sketch is a suede and faux lizard leather trimmed bag with a short handle. It came in 3 colors…..next to that is my Silk CD tunic shirt with the silk chiffon border, and right below that is the very first Capri legging QVC ever did. This was 19 years ago!!! I remember very clearly arguing with my buyer why leggings were going to be important AGAIN! With tunics, big shirts and long sweaters making a strong come back leggings and slim pants were a must for a proper proportion. I finally won out. They were in cotton knit span. They bought the minimal amount, [because they thought they were going to be a bust!], but they sold out in a flash. With all of the tunic styles we were doing I knew they would. Of course the ladies weren’t happy that they couldn’t get them. The leggings were reordered for a few years. Others came out with leggings and mine were discontinued, which I was not happy about. Once again the customers proved that they knew more than the buyers!…….The rest of the middle row shows the JUNGLE PRINT  rayon/linen over sized unlined jacket…..the oblong ombre  silk chiffon scarf ……the Silk CD Safari jacket [the first safari jacket of many to come]….a printed dip dyed wide rib light weight sweater, and a rayon/linen maxi sleeveless shirt dress. The sketch to the extreme bottom left shows the jungle print skirt with different tops, the sleeveless 5 gauge zig zag and rib combo cotton/acrylic sleeveless sweater and a silk shantung stand color shirt………at the extreme bottom right the slim pant with the stitched crease detail…..There were lots of interesting fabrics, colors and silhouettes in this group, and many were to become trend setters a la the leggings……There was absolutely nothing like this on QVC. No one was doing coordinated separates…..Remember, American sportswear was MY BACKYARD!