Yearly Archives: 2021

…………………….The “Designer Gallery Show” for each new season was now becoming a tradition. The designers were planning on it and so were the customers. We all knew it was going to be an exciting presentation….For Feb. 07…..starting on the top row was a suede jacket in three fabulous bright colors….RED, MARINE BLUE and GREEN. The jacket had a side panel for a gentle shape The beautiful hard wear was the focal point. The quality of the “TURN KEY” closures was high end, and used on hand bags. They went down the front of the jacket, on the patch pockets and even on the sleeves. This eventually became a reorder jacket….The sweater to the right was in a new yarn. It was a rayon yarn that had a very high twist, and a dry hand almost like a matte jersey but heavier. Everyone loved it. What made this super special was the HORIZONTAL top stripes that went from the hem of one sleeve straight across  the body to the hem of the other sleeve WITHOUT AN ARMHOLE SEAM!. It had a boat neck and 3/4 sleeves…..It came in RED with NAVY, NAVY with IVORY and MARINE BLUE with RED….It was simple but very special because of the yarn and unexpected construction……The next sweater was really a sweater jacket because it was in a MILANO STITCH which is more like a double knit fabric. It had contrast bands down the front and at the hems of the bottom and sleeves. It also had contrast bands outlining the pocket flaps [I can’t remember it there were real pockets, but I would doubt it because of the bulk]. The cardigan front and pocket flaps had beautiful Gold domed buttons with a center domed Pearl. This was a button I created at AK and had it reproduced for Linea. It was to become a signature button that I used again and again. The cardigan came in IVORY, NAVY and BUTTERCUP…..I believe the Ivory came with Tan trims…….The bottom center sweater jacket was 100% COTTON. It was in a 3 or 5 gauge which gave the sweater jacket weight. It was the perfect early spring cardigan to wear with a TN and jeans. We made it in IVORY, NAVY and RED. It had 7 signature Gold Knot buttons…..again from my AK archives…………Last but not least, to the extreme left was a Boucle jacket. It came in RED, NAVY and IVORY [you think there’s a color theme going on with this group!]. The entire jacket was piped with gold cording and had the gold knot buttons……To coordinate with the jacket there was a silk and nylon, scoop neck, elbow sleeve ENR button front sweater. The buttons were smaller versions of the knot buttons in Gold. This was a fabulous sweater and reordered a few times…….Actually, there were many reorders in this group.

…………………………In addition to what you have seen above there were FOUR additional styles to the February 07 Designer Gallery…..At the top left is a suede jacket in three beautiful colors….a soft Terracotta, a soft Taupe and a Slate Grey. The jacket had two sizes of grommets going from the back neckline, down the front and the hems of the jacket and sleeves. The jacket had scalloped edges to follow the lines of the grommets. It closed with a self suede tie that was below the bust line what is called “Empire”…….The next jacket was in the boucle fabric and was edged with the “dancing sequins” and bugle beads. The jacket came in Ivory, Chiffon Yellow and Pale Aqua. The jacket had princess seams and 3/4 sleeves. It had an open front….The sleeveless shell blouse below was in a beautiful georgette in the colors of the boucle jacket. It had 8 pin tucks down the center and 4 stitched down pleats on either side…..It was a little gem and a great top on its’ own as well as the perfect layering piece….The cotton/acrylic sweater set, tank and raglan sleeve cardigan had gold pearls and bugle bead emb on Ivory or Navy. It had a hook and eye closure. You can imagine what those gold beads looked like on the navy cardigan and tank with ivory trousers! Again, all of this hand emb could never be done today at the prices we did them 13 years ago!!

……………….December 06 was a very small compact group. Usually with all the gift buying many clothing lines skipped Dec and went right into spring for the following year….The group was still very fall and winter oriented….This was before buying habits changed and we started making Dec. a more wear when ever group…….The jacket at the upper right had a military bent. It was made in a fabulous wool blend TWILL, and the twill was very obvious. It really looked like a durable military fabric, but still had a softness. It was tailored beyond! Square shoulder pads, a four button front , four patch pockets and buttoned flaps……I’m surprised I didn’t put epaulets on it!!!! LOL….The jacket came in BLACK and DARK OLIVE…..I originally had a DARK KHAKI planned for this also, but it was never bought…..A great jacket with jeans…The shirt was in FUJI SILK. It had a button front with a tuxedo stand collar. It looked great under the twill jacket…..It came in a very PALE BLUE, SAGE and IVORY……..The next jacket at the lower left was in the wool boucle. It had a zip front that went into the funnel neck.. What made this jacket so wonderful was the half raglan sleeve that had a special shoulder pad that lifted but still hugged the shoulder. The body had seams from the shoulder to the hem which gave the jacket a great fit and flare shape. The sketch indicates that the jacket was to be cut on the bias, but I don’t remember if that was done….We did the jacket in BLACK, IVORY and PEACOCK BLUE…..The last 4 items were sold as sets. They were in a gorgeous rayon matte jersey. You could either buy the tunic top with the ballet neckline and side slits with a skirt or the top with a pant….It really never made sense to me, because what if you wanted the top with the two different bottoms??? You had to buy two tops?! We only did them in BLACK because they were pricey for the times. This was a one shot deal because the rayon knit fabric soared. It was so beautiful and the quality was equal to rayon matte jerseys I had used on Anne Klein. After all it was all about the quality of the yarn and the knitting, The fabric actually came from South Korea which specialized in these types of fabrics. It had to be exported to China at extra cost where the garments were made….China put high tariffs on these imported fabrics so they soon became out of reach…..though we still used them and Taiwan for poly prints that they excelled in……..but the quality was superb!…..Another year ended…onto 2007!

……………………………Before the day escapes me…….I want to wish you all a…………..HAPPY VALENTINE’s DAY!

…………………November 06 was a Holiday group. I always tried to get my Holiday clothes shown as early as they would let me, because the Holidays started with Thanksgiving…NOT CHRISTMAS! I wanted to make sure there was plenty of time to get them delivered….though I don’t remember deliveries then being the problem they are today. The first jacket at the lower left came right off my Anne Klein runway. That’s Christy Turlington, [at the height of her career], wearing the suit from my Anne Klein look book. The original fabric was again made from a company that made many of Chanel’s fabrics, but this time the company surprisingly was in Scotland. It was always fun to visit this particular mill. The outside looked like buildings you would expect to find in Scotland or something out of some old novel like Jane Eyre or Wuthering Heights.  They were old stone buildings with sheep in the meadow….It was almost too bucolic….but once inside it was like Santa’s work shop. All of the different types of yarns….wool of all kinds, angoras, and mohair, and all the fancy yarns that were made by spinning different yarns together. Then there were the FANCIES…..the lurex and tinsel  yarns. I loved working with these men and women, and could listen to all of their accents…..much better than my NY accent. The fabric I used for AK had a high percentage of the tinsel yarn that made the fabric glitter…..Of course the fabric I used for Linea had a lot less tinsel in it, but still looked pretty good! I was able to use a nice rhinestone button in glass on the jacket and not a plastic one! The CAD indicates that there was also a solid skirt that went with the jackets, but I don’t remember the fabric]. The scoop neck stretch velvet top at the center top had bracelet length sleeves and went with the velvet skirt that had a fabulous wide border of large and small “dancing ” sequins with bugle beads. The dancing sequins had one hole at the edge so they weren’t sewn FLAT. They moved and fluttered when you walked…..and there were LOTS OF THEM!…[sometimes the descriptions on the sketches, like fabric suggestions, were changed in the process]……The last jacket at the upper right was very beautiful and had a somewhat period look because it buttoned high. It was in a beautiful rayon crushed velvet, and it had DTM satin trims…….The large round glass buttons had sun ray facets so they really glittered. It came in a beautiful deep MAGENTA ….a beautiful deep ROYAL PURPLE [a real purple not royal blue above] and BLACK………..the photos do the colors absolutely no justice.