“THE TEPPER FUR COLLECTION”
………………………….Yes, I realize designing furs is now considered politically incorrect, and wrong on so many levels, but this is part of my past, and designing furs was something I did do, and at the time I enjoyed doing it……It was another outlet for my creativity…..Would I do it today….no……I stopped using real fur many years ago….. I designed a collect for a man named Jeff Tepper. He was a wonderfully sophisticated svelte, distinguished, handsome and very dapper man who inherited the company from his father and his father inherited it from his father. Jeff was looking for a designer, and the head fur buyer at Neiman Marcus, one of his major clients, recommended me. I met with Jeff and saw right away that he was an honorable man, seldom found in the fur business from my experience. He also made the most exquisite coats. He never cut corners by making narrow facings to save fur, and always bought top quality furs. He had pride in his work…..The quality was absolutely superb, and he was one of Neiman’s main resources. He had two separate collections The LUXE line which were all different types of cloth coats from rain coats, velvet and satin coats, alpaca coats, wool and cashmere coats and pure cashmere coats…basically anything I could dream up….all with a variety of fur trims. Many of the fabrics he never used before, like velvet and satin, but always agreed to my ideas…. His main collection was the fur collection, TEPPER FURS, which ran the gamut of all different types of fur….from mink to sable and everything in between…..He was also known for the special treatments he did to furs, and the unusual colors that were done for him in two incredible factories on the outskirts of Paris…..These factories worked for every leading fur designer, and every major designer who had fur on their collections…..Shearlings were also an important part of the fur collection…..I traveled with Jeff to Finland, Norway and Paris……Fur fashion shows in general were a bore. Furriers didn’t want to spend a lot of money on them, and they for the most part, looked it. I wanted to do something new…..something that looked glamourous and exciting…..something that would impress the editors and buyers alike…….something that hadn’t been done before in the fur industry……and they were expecting something special from me! I had the idea to put on an exhibit instead of a show. The Metropolitan Museum exhibits were always beautiful, and they always used white mannequins. When the fur shows took place none of the A List models were around. They had left for the four corners of the world or wherever they came from until the Ready to Wear fashion shows started again. What was avail were lesser known models…..models I had never worked with…….I thought renting an all white loft on the west side on NY right on the Hudson River, and renting all white mannequins would look glamorous and new. Jeff was onboard, and Jeff’s assistant and I searched for just the right place, and we found it! The huge all white loft with enormous windows facing west, had unobstructed views of the Hudson which was perfect. It was used for photography shoots and was rented out for parties so there was already a sound system. We rented 70 white mannequins which were delivered the morning of the exhibit. Jeff also wanted photos of the coats on live models for the Tepper press kit…..so we set up a photo studio in a large alcove at the back of the loft. We booked 4 models that not only wore the coats for this shoot, but also walked around the loft showing them to the buyers and editors. Jeff’s son, a budding musician, who had no interest in the business, did a running tape of instrumental music of songs I selected. We had a bar set up at the entrance and canapes were served. Even though the natural lighting was beautiful it changed as the day went on….so I had special lighting set up on the coats so they were always perfectly lit. I spent the entire morning with three other people setting up. I had a layout of where I wanted the mannequins to go, and what coats I wanted on each group of mannequins so they told a story. The assistants followed my layout, set up the mannequins, and put the coats on the forms. Then I went around the loft, and buttoned them up, tied the belts where there were belts, and basically fluffed them up and made them presentation ready…..The red short satin belted coat was reversible to a Dark Sable, and I put it up front along with two all white coats…..one in white mohair and the other white cashmere….all with white Mongolian Lamb. It made a strong impact as they entered!….. The long deep forest green velvet coat, with the gold bullion hand embroidery, had natural sable cuffs and a removable twist sable collar….Neiman’s chose it for their special Christmas catalog….It was a full page in color….Jac wore this a few times to black tie Christmas parties and black tie New Years parties, and a few special fashion events…….I recently gave it away to someone who also looked fabulous in it, and who I knew would appreciate it….The exhibit was set for 2:00 pm and the natural light was streaming through the windows….It all looked fabulous…it all looked exactly as I had envisioned. The music started, the waiters were in place, and the photographer was ready to shoot. The models were in place around the loft. As soon as the waiting room was full with people we opened two huge metal sliding doors and let them in. Jeff and I were standing there to greet them………The exhibition was a huge hit with everyone who attended loving it, and said it was the best presentation they had seen!!! Jeff loved it and was thrilled! I was happy…….About a year later Jeff was in his office alone working at his desk late one evening. He had a massive heart attack and died. He was found the next morning by the workers. The business was closed. It was so unbelievably sad. He was only in his early 50s. I will always remember Jeff fondly…………He was a mensch.
