Designer

………………..”San Simeon Castle”……..On one of Jac and my vacations to California…we traveled from LA to the Napa Valley with our friends….Patti and Laurance Taylor…..On the way up the Pacific Coast Highway Laurance organized a private tour of the San Simeon Castle which was built and owned by William Randolph Hearst Sr……Hearst was a communications Media Baron, and extremely wealthy…..The movie “Citizen Kane” starred Orson Welles, who also directed it. It was inspired by Hearst. The movie is considered the greatest picture of all time [debatable]……..Hearst was married three times, but had a 34 year relationship with the actress Marion Davies. The castle was a place they could be free to entertain and live…and entertain they did!!!!….The stories are legendary, and every actress and actor of worth at the time spent weekends at the castle…….We are standing at the outdoor pool where many a pool party took place!…You can only imagine what went on in this Roman setting….The castle, the grounds, the separate guest bungalows are incredible. At the time he lived there he also had a huge zoo with all kinds of wild animals….The indoor pool is supposed to be the finest in the world and it is magnificent. The two photos at the right show the “Great Room”, and the “Library”…….There is a secret staircase that we went down that Hearst used to spy on his guests!…..This is a stop well worth making if you are visiting the west coast with a trip up the PCH!!!!

…………………What’s your favorite Christmas candle????…….Over the years I have tried many brands of candles. I’m always looking for the perfect Christmas tree smell….BALSAM……Out of all that I have tried I seem to always come back to the RIGUAD Cypress candles from Paris. I have given many as gifts. They make a beautiful presentation with the dark forest green wax in the clear glass cylinder, the hand tied red satin bow, and the steel bottom and top makes it even  more SPECIAL!!!  [the bottom isn’t on all sizes]…….This was Jackie Kennedy’s favorite candle!……..Honestly, I’m not fond of cinnamon, apple pie or any other type of typical Christmas scents….Give me the wonderful smell of a Christmas tree and I’m HAPPY…………..I would love to hear what your favorites are!

………These photos were taken many many years after the photos of Donna and myself on Fire Island……………Once upon a time I went to a wedding…………It was the wedding of my friend Donna Karan and Stephen Weiss…….It was in September of 1983, and it was the HOTTEST DAY OF THE YEAR!!!! I mean sweltering, and incredibly humid. I remember the morning of the wedding I decided to give up the suit I was planning to wear in favor of white shorts and a blue dress shirt [sleeves rolled up] with a pink knit tie….Jac was wearing a pink cashmere knit tank short dress and matching shawl that Donna had picked out for her. It was Sept , and we had no idea it was going to be SOOO HOT! She was dying in that outfit while I was relatively cool……The ceremony was outdoors, but the reception was under a tent which made it even hotter!….So we drank!…and drank and drank! By the end of the evening we were feeling NO pain, and the heat didn’t bother us at all!!! The photo at the left is of me licking the wedding cake off my fingers, and on the right is the happy couple…..In the center is me sitting on Marc Balets lap! Marc was the art director on many of our AK ad campaigns and look books. Why I’m sitting on his lap I don’t recall, but I’m sure Marc will be amused to see it….I can only say we were very drunk and having a good time…..In the back to the right….the guy with his hand on his chin is Greg Mills. He worked for us at AK and he was a great friend. Sadly, Greg recently passed away……Marc just recently moved out of NYC after decades, and is now living in upstate Ct….a sort of neighbor…Stephen also passed away many years ago, a great loss…….It’s wonderful to have these photos to remember the GOOD TIMES!

…………………..I recently came across these photos of Donna Karan and myself stored away in my third floor studio in my home. I was doing a major clean up, and I found a stack of photos……These were taken at the beach house I was renting on Fire Island……..Since I NEVER label anything or put dates on anything!!!!!…..I can only guess that these were taken in the late 70s???……For what publication I don’t recall, but it was obviously a story about Donna and me…….I do remember we were having a great time fooling around having our picture taken…..It’s funny because when I met Donna in 1966 she was wearing almost the same outfit only with gladiator sandals wrapped around her long legs….same T and same pony tail!………Those were the carefree days my friends!

…………………….The photographer found my kite in the house, and though it would be fun to take photos of Donna and I on the beach flying the kite…….We had a lot of fun and laughs attempting to launch the kite……but it was “A Failure To Launch”…..Good memories even if we never got it in the air!