Designer

……………..Tomorrow morning…at the crack of dawn….I will be off on a mini vacation to the Caribbean….Can’t wait to get into that aqua blue water!!!…..”See” you when I get back

……………………..I just came across this photo of me with my three Godsons, my nephews Peter, Mathew and Jonathan, and my two nieces, Jeannine and Danielle……Mathew, the tallest of my nephews, is also the baby! He’s 6’6″ tall!!!….I had to take a moment, and sit…..and remember…..remember hiding the Easter eggs and helping Mathew find them under the bushes…..watching their faces opening their Christmas presents on Christmas morning…..and all the Thanksgiving’s Jac and I had at our home with the family……When this photo was taken they were all teenagers starting on their paths of life…….It brought back a flood of memories…of them….and of me……If I really concentrate and think about it there is a lot from my childhood that I remember….and also a lot I have forgotten. I remember silly little things like my first day at kindergarten, and watching my mother walk home, as my nose was pressed against the window……. taking a stray kitten home….and my mother making me take it back to its’ mother, because I was very allergic to cats……starting little camp fires in the empty lots with my friends and coming home reeking of smoke, and getting in BIG TROUBLE….as a teenager…hiding my cigarette packs behind the radiator cover in my bedroom thinking what a clever hiding place this was!…..only to find out years later that my mother knew all the time. She said to me…”what did you think….I didn’t clean there?”……I guess I didn’t think….I stupidly thought I got away with it….All those years my Mom never said anything……..We all have our stories that took us on the eventual PATH THAT BROUGHT US TO HERE!…..It’s been one of the joys of my life to see all of my nephews and nieces…..from the day they were born… to grow as toddlers…..through their terrible twos …..their puberty days and then blossom into beautiful teenagers with full blown personalities of their own……I have endlessly enjoyed  watching them navigate through their lives, and taking their own paths…..Now they are all adults, some with children of their own……There is a whole new generation to watch, and observe the choices they make, and see where their inner compass takes them…………..and life goes on

………..OREOS and a TUB OF FRENCH VANILLA ICE CREAM……Yummy…….my kind of late night snack!

……………………….There wasn’t a single show that I ever did at Anne Klein that I can remember Elsa Klensch and her video crew not being there!!!! Elsa was “The Face Of Fashion on CNN”, and as far as everyone else was concerned. She was a pioneer, and the first person to broadcast Fashion every Saturday….around the world! She not only videoed every show, but she always came back stage to get “sound bites” on stories she was doing. The photos above were all clips from her video taken at one of my Fall Shows…..Her theme was “THE NEW SHORT HAIR ON MODELS”……..As it happened a few seasons before Jac was in Europe doing a Sonia Rykiel show, and Sonia wanted all of the models to have crimped hair. Jac had long-ish hair at the time so it could be crimped. To make a long story short the person using the crimper had it on too hot for Jac’s hair and burned it right off!!! Needless to say Jac was HYSTERICAL……She had many shows lined up that week in Paris and then back home in the US, and a clump of hair was missing…..The head hair designer came running over, saw what happened and took Jac to a private area and gave her a complete hair cut on the spot!!!! Thank God the burned clump was in  the back so he was able to make it look like nothing happened. The top and sides were still long so he had a lot to work with. Jac loved it and kept her hair short as her signature while everyone else had long hair. When she came home and came up to the office to show us her new look we LOVED IT….Some did not…..They liked her looking like Grace Kelly or Carol Lombard…but they realized it was a new direction, and how modern it really was. They soon came around. By the time this interview was done many models got on the “short hair bandwagon” That’s Anne Bezamat in the check jacket, and the model walking off with her back to us is Linda Evangelista…..all with the “new” short hair. This video can be seen on YouTube………….I spent many an afternoon with Elsa, after an interview, sitting in my design studio  over a cup of coffee gossiping about the industry…..She was so much fun to be with, and new EVERYTHING!….The woman was so CHIC…..naturally. It’s just who she was…..and that voice……it just enveloped you……When she retired it was a great loss, and an end to that kind of fashion coverage which SHE STARTED!….Others have and are trying to do what she did, but none are……..Elsa.

…….I haven’t taken the trip to PA for a long time……way before I ended my association with QVC….so this was a true odyssey for me. The reason for my trip was to do a LIVE JEWELRY presentation with Jill Bauer. As you know from my posts, I have created an exclusive group of Sterling Silver, 18 Karat gold plate, 18 Karat Rose Gold plate and Bronze jewelry all plated,  for her to sell in her JUST JILL SHOP…..So off I went…..I made plans to meet with Angela and Chantal at the Warner Hotel, where I was staying, in West Chester PA. It was a movie theater that had been converted into a hotel. Other than the facade you would never know. I had some things I wanted to give to the girls so we sat in my room, had a glass of wine, and laughed a lot. When Cathy arrived at 7pm we all met in the lobby. We said our good byes, and Cathy and I waited for Bernadette to arrive. She is Jill’s assistant and brought us to Jill’s office.  The office was literally 5 minutes from the hotel. Jill and I had enough time before the show to reconnect, and get caught up on what has been going on in our lives. Before we knew it it was SHOW TIME……We immediately fell into a smooth and comfortable rhythm.. We had a great time, and the hour went by so quickly….It was 9PM and a Cathy and I were to meet Karen and Bill, her partner, at a restaurant called The Split Rail, again near Jill’s office. Karen ordered a Humus Plate to start and it was delicious. Cathy and I both had cheese burgers and huge amount of French Fries!!! I am not used to eating this late or all of this food for dinner, and when I finished eating I was STUFFED. To our surprise they were having a DRAG SHOW that night, and they were setting up, [photo at lower right]. Wester Chester is a college/university town, and the place was packed with students. I was exhausted from the day….getting up early, driving 3 hours to the hotel , seeing the girls and then doing the show. There was no way I could stay and watch the show considering I was going to do another show the next day from Cathy’s home…..so off we went…..The next day I left the hotel and went to Cathy’s for a lovely breakfast. Then we set up for the show…..After a TWO HOUR SHOW, it was time to leave for my 3 hour plus odyssey home in rain, sleet and snow……I was happy to arrive at home in good time…..and safe and sound…..back to my own separate peace.