Designer

…………………….I have always loved WHITE COTTON SHIRTS….especially when the quality has a superb silky feel on the skin…..The wrap notched collar shirt with the drop shoulder and exaggerated shirred sleeves looks like it was designed for spring/summer 2021…..Yes, these shirts needed care, but thirty years ago everything need care!. There is nothing like a crisp, freshly pressed white cotton shirt. The navy pull-on skirt was made out of cotton/span knit. Trust me when I say this Italian quality was incredible, and there is nothing it can be compared to……..a true designer fabric….. Convertible cotton knit cowl top could also be pulled up and worn as a hood…..The white bottom was also in the cotton/span knit…..These were great take away packable pieces………..I always had an assortment of belts for each collection. The wide belt was in a white elastic with navy calf leather tab fronts and gold metal closure. The navy calf leather belt had a menswear inspired buckle.

……………………….I used to buy this beautiful silky soft cotton from an Italian company named “Braghenti”. They specialized in cotton and linen. They also had a home division that made the most beautiful cotton and Linen sheets. I still have Linen sheets and pillow cases from them that are wonderful in the summer. The company was owned by a very young man named Emanuele Castellini. It was a family owned business as so many of the Italian fabric companies were and are still today. This company was four generations old, and very well established. When I first started doing business with the company Emanuele’s older brother Waltero ran the business. He was a tall handsome man and very charismatic…….On one of our trips to Italy we found out Waltero was thrown from a horse and was killed. He was an Olympic jumper. It was such a tragedy. We all supported the very young Emanuele, who took over the business. He had to be very responsible very quickly, but he had a very good seasoned team behind him. As the years passed he proved to be a wonderful and creative member of the family who not only took the reigns, but grew the company too. I worked with him directly for years…The clothes above were the fishnet tee with cotton shorts, and an unlined cotton “Boyfriend” blazer with a cotton mini skirt. The blazer had a beautiful crest emb. on the pocket. I also had clear resin buttons made with tiny gold ball centers. One of the great advantages of working for a “designer” company was I could make anything I dreamed of including all of the accessories shown……..the hat……the tote……the belt and the jewelry…..You may recognize the model at the right….Her name is Famke Janssen….Famke modeled for me for a few years, doing both the shows and print. She left the modeling business to become an actress. I had doubted she would become a success, because she was so beautiful and TALL. These attributed would put her in a VERY limited category….plus no one really took models turned actresses seriously [there have been some wonderful exceptions], and most leading men are SHORT. However, she got the role as a “Bond Girl”, and her career took off. Unfortunately, today she is almost unrecognizable due to bad plastic surgery and FILLERS. I really don’t know why so many women go down that same path only to end up with the same horrific results….blown up cheeks to the point of ridiculous, and distorted features. I know so many who do…….”mirror, mirror on the wall”……..Famke ended up being a cautionary tale. I googled her to see what she was up to, and was really shocked at what I saw…..

……………………… Resort was always a fun collection to work on. It was all about vacation clothes….Thirty years ago, Nov. Dec. Jan and Feb. were prime vacation months, and resort clothes had become an important category of clothing……Fish net was a strong theme in this collection and the Fishnet beach cover up was perfect over the tank bathing suit above as well as dresses, tanks and Capri pants……Notice the first FISH PENDANT around her neck. It was to become a very important theme to the collection and it was very successful…….The customers loved it then as the do now….thirty years later!

……………………My trips with Jac to the Caribbean were always a source of inspiration……..We were at the Jumby Bay Resort on the small island of Jumby Bay. It is  a short  boat ride from Antigua. We were one of the first guests to go to this brand new resort. It was then owned by Mariuccia Mandelli and her husband Aldo Pinto. Mariuccia was the designer for the Italian company she and her husband owned called KRIZIA. Jac worked for them for many years and always said they were wonderful generous people……We thought we would try something new and booked a stay at the hotel. It was a beautiful place as we were sure it would be if Mariuccia had anything to do with it, and she did!!! It was paradise…..When we got to our beautiful villa we noticed ear plugs on each bedside table???? We soon came to find out the the island was in the direct path of the planes taking off from the Antigua airport! Paradise had some kinks!……….The dresses above were made out of a beautiful and fine quality of cotton knit jersey from Italy. They were detailed with large cotton fish net……This is where it all began…..where the FISH and PALM FROND necklaces were conceived!

……………….Since we whizzed through TEN YEARS OF LINEA, I thought we would take an intermission!…….In the spirit of the retrospective of my career I thought it would be fun to look at some of the clothes I created for Anne Klein……We published what was known as “LOOK BOOKS” for each collection. These were photos of each of the items on the individual collections. We supplied these books to our “A” and “B” stores. These were high end stores that had separate Anne Klein Boutiques within the stores. Customers could look through them and place advanced orders on the items the stores had ordered, and they could place “special orders” on items the stores did not buy. Unfortunately, when I left Anne Klein many of the books were left behind so I have a limited number of them. What I do have are VSH tapes of many many shows……I should have them converted before they are ruined, but even DVDs have become a thing of the past……..I hope you enjoy this “look back” at some of the collections from the past………KEEP IN MIND……..this RESORT 1991 collection is THIRTY YEARS OLD!!!!!!! I can’t believe it myself, but when I look at the picture of the clothes it all comes back to me……These pictures were all taken in East Hampton and Montauk Point…….They were all having so much fun during this week and a half long photo shoot that I decided to spend the last two days with them. That’s when my “head shot” was taken…..We all had a great time….lots of good memories!!!!