Monthly Archives: January 2022

…………….For the Anne Klein Company’s 30th Anniversary the AK Co. published a special insert in conjunction with Woman’s Wear Dailey’s magazine. It comprised of single photos and collages of the past years starting in 1968, the year AK was opened until 1998. The photo at the upper left is Anne Klein herself with two of her sketches. What many people do not realize is that she only designed the AK line for 5 years, from 1968 until she died in 1973. The impact she made in that small amount of time was phenomenal!!!! She changed the way women dressed overnight and created a new category of dressing….”DESIGNER SPORTSWEAR”. Yes, there were other sportswear designers before her like Claire McArdell and Bonnie Cashin, but none created boutiques housing their entire collections of coordinating separates and accessories to make it easier for women to shop and put outfits together…….These were the new working women who needed a different more modern way of dressing…..She had the first designer boutique in a store….it was called the “Anne Klein Corner” at Saks 5th Avenue. Before that designers clothes were mixed together in “salons”. A women could walk into the AK boutique and walk out with 2, 3, 4, 5 outfits that mixed and matched along with the accessories to tie it all together…..She no longer had to run around the store looking for pieces to go with what she purchased….The photos are just part of the 12 pages I still have. I started at AK when I was 24 years old and spent the next 20 years there………..the best years of my designing career. I will always be grateful to Anne Klein and her husband Chip Rubenstein for selecting me to join the company knowing I would replace her along with Donna Karan.

……………………Before I put my COOKIE ORNAMENTS away for another year…..I thought I would show all of these little treasures to you! Jac and I, when we lived in NYC, had cookie ornament parties in our apartment! We invited 4 friends over for a total of 6 of us to make ornaments. I’d mix the flour, salt and water to create the dough and put it in a bowl with a damp cloth over it, and we’d sit around a table and create. We used all kinds of kitchen utensils to create things such as a GARLIC PRESS which was great for making hair!…..a tooth pick to make the hole from which the ornaments were hung….and whatever thread you wanted to use to hang them with. I used gold thread. When we were finished with the ornament we put them on a cookie sheet and into the oven they went for about 1 hour or until they got golden…..Then they came out to cool, and once they were cooled we painted them with acrylic paint. Then sprayed with varnish to keep them bright. Considering they are a little over 35 YEARS OLD….they look pretty darn good…..The last party we had was in 1986! All of the ones above I made, and everyone else took theirs home…….It was great fun!!!!!….lots of wine, and lots of laughs….some of them were X rated, and some of our friends made ones that were XXX rated. Those went home with them to go on their own trees!…..LOL

……………………..My sweet Jac would be the first to say that she wasn’t very good at making these ornaments, and only made two! The little nude girl and the baby below, at the extreme left, were her two contributions. She painted the baby girl, but asked me to paint the baby in its’ onesies. You can see what the ornaments looked like from the back from the ornament at the extreme right bottom. Our friend Susan was very creative and she would add ribbon and lace and sequins to her ornaments such as the panda bear at the upper right, with the plaid ribbon bowtie……which she gifted to us.

………………..Two other ornaments Susan made for us were the center Mermaid and the Little Lady in Lace. The trouble with gluing things on is that after some years they tend to fall off. The Mermaid used to have tiny black sequins on her body and tail [all that’s left are the marks of glue], and she had two gold sequins in the shape of tiny clam shells covering her boobies…..long gone……The Lady in Lace still has her lace dress over her painted black garters, her red ribbon belt, her pearl earrings one on her fishnet veil and mesh gloves which Susan drew on!!!! Susan was a model that used to work with Jac and I all the time, but when I left 7th Avenue we lost contact. I sure hope she’s well and happy. She truly had a heart of gold, and I will treasure her ornaments forever!…………….Soon they will be carefully wrapped, and put away for another year!

…………………..There were, and are many beautiful models……but……Paulina was one of the very very best. She had it all……an incredible body and a magnificent face! Sometimes the universe just smiles on a singular person……..The funny thing was she could have cared less about being a model…..but the money was incredible!