Monthly Archives: November 2022

……………………..I love tailored shirts, but I also love blouses with feminine touches like the one in the photos above.. This blouse had a yoke with shirring front and back which gave it a poet look, and fuller sleeves with shirring at the cuffs instead of the usual tailored pleats. The magic to this blouse was the triple row removable tie streamers. It was a new take on a bow blouse. It looked great under so many jackets and sweaters. It came in three colors….IVORY…..BURGUNDY…..and BLACK……………….I love a great Black shirt, and they aren’t easy to find! In general great shirts and blouses are very difficult to find, and designer cotton shirts and silk blouses are a fortune.

……………………Through out my entire career I was always on the lookout for interesting, unusual and unique fabrics. Of course when I worked at Anne Klein the price of the fabrics was not a consideration. and I could choose what ever I wanted…..however…..once I started working at QVC it was a different world, and it was all about price, and as the years went on the price of everything became a bigger and bigger issue. In 2013 I was still able to afford nice fabrics, because the prices of the fabrics, and cut, make and trim [or labor] plus mark ups and margins hadn’t exploded…yet…..So when I found this glorious tweed I was delighted. It reminded me of so many of the fabrics I had seen in Europe. China had become quite adept at copying European fabrics. This tweed jacket came in three color combinations…….Raspberry is at the bottom left…..Violet at the top right and Sienna just below that………It’s the type of fabric and style of a classic jacket that simply NEVER goes out of style, and could fit into anyone’s life style depending what they wore it with….With a fabric like this you didn’t have to over design the jacket Keep it simple and let the fabric speak…..It just took a little imagination……Remember, this was almost 20 years ago, and if memory serves, the jacket was priced under $80!

………………………For Sept. 2013 there were NINE NEW ITEMS, and FOUR REORDERS…….Out of the nine new items four of them were jackets, and I couldn’t have been happier with them…..Starting from the top row, far left is a cad of the the styles and reorders……The center top sketch is of a men’s wear check single button longer blazer with contrast collar and piping above the slanted flap pockets. It was avail. in two combinations…..a brown/camel combo with sienna accents and a navy/grey combo with burgundy. To coordinate with the blazer there was a wonderful zip front slim pant in the same fabric as the collar and piping….in the brown and navy. This was a wonderful new weighty stretch fabric very similar to the tuxedo jacket and my 2 button blazer……The quilted vest had a zip front and a stand collar. It came in cadet blue and walnut, and looked great under the check blazer with one of the WK reorder turtlenecks…It was in a matte satin fabric……Below the vest is an Every Needle Rib tunic cardigan in acrylic and wool. It had side slits and came in lilac and graphite…….Below the cardigan was a new blouse in a crepe fabric. It came in smoke and lilac and coordinated with the TWEED BLAZER……….At the extreme left of the bottom row was my PONTE KNIT “HOODIE” three button BLAZER. It had a top yoke and lots of seaming for shape, plus topstitching details and band pockets. I thought it was a wonderfully unique combination of a hoodie and a blazer for a more casual tailored look……Next the relaxed two button jacket was in a fabulous new TWEED that looked like many of the fabrics I would find in Paris for my Anne Klein Couture Collection. It was woven in a beautiful combinations of yarns and colors. It was avail in three different combinations…..Violet, Sienna and Raspberry. The next top, again was in a very unique and beautiful fabric. It was a “plush burnout” in a floral pattern. This stretch knit came in two colors….raspberry with a black background, and sienna also with a black background. This top looked great under the tweed jackets for a very unexpected, but very designer look….Lastly was the new BOUCLE LOOP JACKET. This fabric had lots of texture and dimension. It gave the drop sleeve jacket a marvelous shape….It came in RUBY….MALACHITE…..and LAPIS…..which were preview colors of what was to come the following month…..There were THREE WK reorders and a crepe blouse with self fabric tie streamers………..The fall season was in full swing!

…………………………….We should be celebrating Veterans everyday….not just one day a year!

……………………..Angela and I were the first up so we went on a coffee and donut run . Let me tell you these girls get awfully grouchy without their morning coffee!……Then it was time to pack up the car. Finally I am making a dent in all of the samples I have accumulated over the years. There were some great Anne Klein pieces that were Jac’s that I gave them….It’s time…..and they wear them so well……Lou came over to say HELLO……and goodbye…..and off they went with the horn of the car blaring….just as they had arrived.