Monthly Archives: November 2021

………………………….Yes, I realize designing furs is now considered politically incorrect, and wrong on so many levels, but this is part of my past, and designing furs was something I did do, and at the time I enjoyed doing it……It was another outlet for my creativity…..Would I do it today….no……I stopped using real fur many years ago….. I designed a collect for a man named Jeff Tepper. He was a wonderfully sophisticated svelte, distinguished, handsome and very dapper man who inherited the company from his father and his father inherited it from his father. Jeff was looking for a designer, and the head fur buyer at Neiman Marcus, one of his major clients, recommended me. I met with Jeff and saw right away that he was an honorable man, seldom found in the fur business from my experience. He also made the most exquisite coats. He never cut corners by making narrow facings to save fur, and always bought top quality furs. He had pride in his work…..The quality was absolutely superb, and he was one of Neiman’s main resources. He had two separate collections The LUXE line which were all different types of cloth coats from rain coats, velvet and satin coats, alpaca coats, wool and cashmere coats and pure cashmere coats…basically anything I could dream up….all with a variety of fur trims. Many of the fabrics he never used before, like velvet and satin, but always agreed to my ideas…. His main collection was the fur collection, TEPPER FURS, which ran the gamut  of all different types of fur….from mink to sable and everything in between…..He was also known for the special treatments he did to furs, and the unusual colors that were done for him in two incredible factories on the outskirts of Paris…..These factories worked for every leading fur designer, and every major designer who had fur on their collections…..Shearlings were also an important part of the fur collection…..I traveled with Jeff to Finland, Norway and Paris……Fur fashion shows in general were a bore. Furriers didn’t want to spend a lot of money on them, and they for the most part, looked it. I wanted to do something new…..something that looked glamourous and exciting…..something that would impress the editors and buyers alike…….something that hadn’t been done before in the fur industry……and they were expecting something special from me! I had the idea to put on an exhibit instead of a show. The Metropolitan Museum exhibits were always beautiful, and they always used white mannequins. When the fur shows took place none of the A List models were around. They had left for the four corners of the world or wherever they came from until the Ready to Wear fashion shows started again. What was avail were lesser known models…..models I had never worked with…….I thought renting an all white loft on the west side on NY right on the Hudson River, and renting all white mannequins would look glamorous and new. Jeff was onboard, and Jeff’s assistant and I searched for just the right place, and we found it! The huge all white loft with enormous windows facing west, had unobstructed views of the Hudson which was perfect. It was used for photography shoots and was rented out for parties so there was already a sound system. We rented 70 white mannequins which were delivered the morning of the exhibit. Jeff also wanted photos of the coats on live models for the Tepper press kit…..so we set up a photo studio in a large alcove at the back of the loft. We booked 4 models that not only wore the coats for this shoot, but also walked around the loft showing them to the buyers and editors. Jeff’s son, a budding musician, who had no interest in the business, did a running tape of instrumental music of songs I selected. We had a bar set up at the entrance and canapes were served. Even though the natural lighting was beautiful it changed as the day went on….so I had special lighting set up on the coats so they were always perfectly lit. I spent the entire morning with three other people setting up. I had a layout of where I wanted the mannequins to go, and what coats I wanted on each group of mannequins so they told a story. The assistants followed my layout, set up the mannequins, and put the coats on the forms. Then I went around the loft, and buttoned them up, tied the belts where there were belts, and basically fluffed them up and made them presentation ready…..The red short satin belted coat was reversible to a Dark Sable, and I put it up front along with two all white coats…..one in white mohair and the other white cashmere….all with white Mongolian Lamb. It made a strong impact as they entered!….. The long deep forest green velvet coat, with the gold bullion hand embroidery, had natural sable cuffs and a removable twist sable collar….Neiman’s chose it for their special Christmas catalog….It was a full page in color….Jac wore this a few times to black tie Christmas parties and black tie New Years parties, and a few special fashion events…….I recently gave it away to someone who also looked fabulous in it, and who I knew would appreciate it….The exhibit was set for 2:00 pm and the natural light was streaming through the windows….It all looked fabulous…it all looked exactly as I had envisioned. The music started, the waiters were in place, and the photographer was ready to shoot. The models were in place around the loft. As soon as the waiting room was full with people we opened two huge metal sliding doors and let them in. Jeff and I were standing there to greet them………The exhibition was a huge hit with everyone who attended loving it, and said it was the best presentation they had seen!!! Jeff loved it and was thrilled! I was happy…….About a year later Jeff  was in his office alone working at his desk late one evening. He had a massive heart attack and died. He was found the next morning by the workers. The business was closed. It was so unbelievably sad. He was only in his early 50s. I will always remember Jeff fondly…………He was a mensch.

………………..At Parsons School of Design we were constantly doing croquis sketches in spiral sketch pads. Literally we would do hundreds of sketches for the many different assignments we were given……My sketch style kept changing and changing until I found a style I felt was me……Later on when I was working I didn’t have the time to do elaborate colored pictures. I did black and white pencil or pentel drawings with lots of descriptions and directions on them for the sample pattern maker to follow. They were more like the sketches at the left, though by then my style had yet changed again! All of these sketches were done in 1967-68.

……………..During my second year at Parsons the students worked with designers on what was called “Critic Problems”, or something like that. It’s been 53 years! One of my critics was Betsy Daniels, a well know children’s designer. We had to do lots of Croqui sketches [quick sketches of ideas], which Mrs Kaegy, the head of the design department went through. She would mark the sketches she wanted us to do in finished painted drawings to present to the designer. Then a meeting of the 2nd year student body was called with the designer and each student working with the designer would present their sketches. The designer would choose one for you to make. As it turned out Mrs Kaegy had her young daughter model, Wendy, and chose my design for her to wear. It was a grey flannel coat dress with a double breasted front. The front panel went to the hem of the dress and the rest of the skirt was pleated. It had silver buttons and a grey flannel belt with a silver plaque buckle. I remember Mrs Kagey’s daughter was at the age where she was starting to develop, and Mrs. Kaegy bound her!!!!Her daughter was so embarrassed……Since my design won the Betsy Daniel’s Award, Parson’s kept my finished sketch. There were many more sketches, about 20 in all, but I could only find the ones above. We would have fittings with the designer on the model with the 2nd years students in attendance, and when it was all completed a final meeting was held where Mrs Kaegy would hold up the final sketch of the winner. “Betsy Daniel Award” was printed across my sketch in big red letters. It was a banner year for me because not only did I win the Betsy Daniel’s Award, but I received the Normal Norell Scholarship!

……………………….All of these sketches were done for my Rudi Gernrich  critic problem except for the two sketches at the lower right which were done for my 3rd year Norman Norell project.. Again, the sketches chosen were NONE of the above…….Very few 2nd year student garments made it into the year end fashion show which was a big money maker for the school. It was always held in one of NY cities grand ballroom. Before the grand ballroom show a selection show took place. The show took place in the Parsons auditorium. People from the fashion industry were invited……Store fashion merchandizers, editors, fashion designers, fabric people etc etc were all sitting there. They were handed pads with numbers on them, and then  the show started. Each garment that came out had a number. if you liked it you wrote yes, and if not you wrote no. You could even write a short comment….You had to have a certain number of yeses for your garment to get into the show. My garment made the show!!! So I was allowed to attend, and sat in a box on the second floor where the students parents sat. It was a big deal for a second year student’s garment to get into the show, and I was thrilled!!!! I can’t believe these sketches were done 49 to 50 years ago!…….So much has happened since then……..That young boy couldn’t have dreamed what was to happen to him!