Monthly Archives: August 2021

………………………At every show I hired a photographer to take “behind the scenes” photos before and while the show was going on. I always tried to get Roxanne Lowit. We were about the same age. She was a very pretty diminutive pixie, and new how to get what she wanted. She became a celebrity herself, and took picture at every fashion show and every event and party. She was a regular at Studio 54 snapping away. Everyone knew her. She would come in during the rehearsal and stay until the first show ended…..The models all knew her and liked her. That was important because she was all over even back stage as they undressed and dressed. The models always felt comfortable, and knew she would never take a picture of them that was questionable. I always thought some of her candid shots were worthy of being national ads, but I never had the guts to do it. There are so many pictures above that would have made wonderful ads!….Jac and I are walking the runway at the end of the show with all of the models following behind. They would make two long rows on either side of the runway for us to walk through on our way back…..clapping all the way. The photo at the bottom left is of me and Polly Mellon of Vogue. She was and is an icon! She was a wonderful editor and was responsible for many of the most famous pages ever done. She also had  her own way of saying things….wonderful sound bites, and coined such phrases as “Key” and Major” which have been widely used by others……She was congratulating me in the photo…..Polly absolutely NEVER came back unless she loved the show……..At one of my resort shows where I showed a lot of spectator brown and white, she was heard to say as she was leaving……..”I’ll never eat brownies again!”. Needless to say she didn’t come back stage to congratulate me, but I thought her comment was very funny…..Thank goodness the buyers didn’t agree with her. I suppose she felt “brown” was not a good editorial color.

………………………A few days after the show Roxanne would send us the contact sheets of all the photos she had taken…..there were lots and lots of them. She went through them and crossed out the obvious bad ones just to save us the time….We sometime used them for press releases or if out of town news papers wanted photos of the collection we would send these…..We never sent pictures of our Nation Ads as they were only used for our campaigns….It was always fun to see what she captured. The two small photos at the bottom left of the model with the blond bob is Tyra Banks in a blond wig. Many of the models wore these “Bob” wigs. It worked well with the clothes and the signature fisherman’s cap I used in the show. The caps were made in everything from tapestry fabrics to chenille to velvet and the classic knit…….The models in the larger pictures are Christie Turlington. Nicki Taylor with Naomi Campbell, Helena Christensen, and Shalom Harlow….I think the model behind the Mongolian Lamb collar is Carla Bruni, but it’s hard to tell from just an eye!!!….I love the picture of Helena on the cell phone!………Can you believe the size of that phone Helena is holding!!!…………We’ve come a long way baby!

……………………….A wonderful piece in the Rayon Jersey was the COWL TUNIC…..It had long sleeves, and was fitted to the high waist where there was a horizontal seam that dipped slightly in the back. The bottom “skirt” part of the tunic was circular so it draped and moved beautifully. Making it circular instead of shirring the skirt into the seam eliminated any bulk….It had a handkerchief hem…It came in…..BLACK…..LIMOGES BLUE……and RUBY…..It could easily be worn dressed up or with jeans………Perfect for traveling.

……………………..January 2013………a new year….what was it to bring?………January is always a tricky month with lots of questions……Have the women already spent too much over the Christmas Holidays? Are they waiting for their credit card statements to come in before spending another $?…..but….maybe they got QVC gift certificates to spend……..Is it to too late to add more fall even if it’s only Jan….Is it too early to even think about Spring? What to design that might tempt a woman to buy? These are all questions I ask myself when planning a Jan. line…..The answer to this question is…..Who knows?….So I do what I’ve always done, and do what I like, and hope you like it too……….This Jan., besides the TSV Peplum Jacket and its’ coordinates there was a whole group consisting 0f seven new pieces plus six reorders…..I offered two pieces in a jacquard knit in a PYTHON pattern. There was a dress with body seams front and back with an asymmetric neckline. There was also a shirt jacket with a self tie belt, epaulets and buttoned breast pockets that actually melded away into the fabric. They were both in the same colors……………Black/Purple, Black/Putty and Black/Tarragon. The pieces could be worn together or on their own. The Tarragon leather blazer looked great with the Tarragon dress…..The print georgette blouse to the right had a circular flounce at the hem of the blouse and the sleeves. Both flounces were set into curved seams, so the flounce was shorter over the top of the hand. The blouse had a notched camp collar and a button front to the curved seam. The print was an abstract floral, and was a digital modern print. The colors were Limoges Blue/Black and Natural/Black……..The bodysuit and the wrap skirt were inspired by dancers rehearsal clothes. When Jac used to take dance classes with professional dancers at the Carnegie Hall Dance Studios on 57th Street. She said it was intimidating, but she held her own. It was mostly “Bar” classes which she kept taking her entire life…..The two pieces were in Rayon/Span jersey. The body suit had an Empire cut with pleats angled to drape across the bust. The skirt was a 3/4 circle with two buttons on the DB waist band. It was not a faux wrap….The colors were RUBY, TRUFFLE [a taupe brown] and BLACK……..The next jersey tunic had a deep cowl neckline and long sleeves. There was a curved seam where the “skirt” was set into the top. It was asymmetrical with longer sides……The colors were Ruby, Limoges Blue, and Black. At this point Elaine was totally responsible for the fit “VENDOR FIT” which we loved. The only piece that QVC requested their fit staff to be responsible for was the dress, “QVC REQUESTED FIT”………. There were also six reorders for January, all listed on the CAD at the far left. Linea was off to a good start.

………………..For the beginning of 2013 I was given a TSV……Hip Hip Hurray!!!….However, a Jan. TSV isn’t ideal because women have just come off spending a lot of money for the Christmas Holidays, and were still waiting for their credit card charges to come in to access the damage!…so spending more wasn’t on their agenda…….but as the saying goes…..”don’t look a gift horse in the mouth”….what ever that means?….A Jan. TSV I was given and a Jan. TSV I would take!!…..The TSV was a PONTE PEPLUM jacket in five colors. To coordinate with the jacket I offered…a slim Ponte pant with back seams for a perfect shape, a Ponte zip front pencil skirt with a button waist band, and a Whisper Knit scoop neck, elbow sleeve sweater with waist whittling ribs for the perfect layering piece…………..There was also an additional Jan. group! Now, there are two ways to look at a Jan. group….It’s either much too early to buy more….or….you are showing these clothes early which gives them a longer selling period……I chose to see the positive, and hopefully so did the Ladies.