Yearly Archives: 2021

……………………The February 08 Designer Gallery was BOLD & BEAUTIFUL………..Knowing that the Designer Gallery would be a SPECIAL event with lots of publicity, meant for me it was time to STEP UP. This isn’t a time for basics, but a time to create interesting and eye grabbing clothes………….ZEBRA PRINTS would do just that………These Zebra prints were reproduced from ETRO prints that I used for one of my Anne Klein collections…..[I still think it’s the best Zebra print I have ever seen….just MHO]……however I used them for a FALL collection…….There were Zebra wool and cashmere jacquard coats….Silk Zebra print blouses on Zebra jacquard solid silks. Intarsia pattern sweaters and sweater dresses.  The wool of the sweater or dress was the black yarn and the ivory was ANGORA…….I did a combination of SUEDE & LEATHER pieces. For instance there was a short pencil skirt where the black was the leather and the Tobacco was suede stripes appliqued on top…or an IVORY LEATHER skirt with BLACK SUEDE stripes appliqued on top. There were Hair calf huge shoulder bags, and Andrea Pfister made high heels, flat skimmers and BOOTS all pieced together in leather and suede which I showed with Black and Ivory Bold Glen Plaid suits with matching long Balmacaan coats….. and that was just the start……You will see many other pieces in up coming months that were also inspired by clothes from this AK show……It was POWERFUL….and BOLD for sure……………The print ZEBRA double breasted trench at the upper left was in a beautiful stretch cotton. The under collar and the belt had contrast solid cotton……The Black and white Zebra had a RED under collar and the belt had the Zebra print on one side and RED on the other….so when you tied the belt in a loop the red showed…..The Mocha which was more like a “Tiger” tobacco color had a bright Turquoise as the contrast color……..The Zebra print shirt had a classic body with a curved bottom and body darts. The fabric was a SILK CRINKLE GEORGETTE. It came in RED/BLACK, IVORY/BLACK, and MOCHA/BLACK……..Both of these Zebra pieces were reordered a few times. There was also a cotton short pencil skirt in Black, Red and Ivory………The jacket on the bottom row at the extreme right was also a cotton stretch jacket. It had raglan sleeves a spread shirt collar with a half moon stand. The sleeves were 3/4 length.. The body had an A-Line silhouette….The large patch pockets had side entry and slanted tops, and the large flaps were slanted also………What took this jacket from a pretty cotton ZIP FRONT jacket…..to a BOLD jacket was all of the BLACK PATENT LEATHER TRIMS!……and there were lots of them as you can see from the sketch. It came in IVORY, RED and TURQUOISE all with the shiny black trims.

……………………..February 08 continued and consisted of two very special pieces………..The first was a suede jacket. The jacket had FIVE DIFFERENT COLORS of suede all cut and pieced together! If that weren’t enough EACH SECTION was outlined in bands of GOLD LEATHER. The jacket had a zip front that was hidden with two bands of gold leather….The jacket came in two color combinations……TURQUOISE, RED, BLUE,GREEN, BRIGHT PINK, BLACK and the MATTE GOLD LEATHER [the color placement in the sketch may not be the final]………The second combination was more neutral……GREY, TAUPE, BLUE, NAVY, LIGHT FAWN and MATTE SILVER…..This suede jacket was very successful, a true collectors item and just as beautiful today…….THIRTEEN YEARS LATER!………The Blouse to the right was a true beauty and a true DESIGNER ITEM……The blouse was made in SILK ORGANZA. It had the most incredible embroidery!!! It was made in a heavier cotton yarn and it was very dimensional which I think you can see from the photos There was even OPEN WORK in the flowers…….It came in Ivory emb. on Black, and Navy emb on Pale Pink……….another collector’s item!

………………………I recently saw this on Ebay at a very low price……They say it’s in excellent condition!…..It’s a fun jacket over jeans or with a Blk TN and long Blk WK skirt and boots.

……………………….December 07 offered 3 additional new styles…..The first was a silk charmeuse “Pirate’s Blouse”. It was tunic length, perfect for slim velvet pants, or a long slim skirt. It had a drop seam on the sleeve. There was shirring at the seam and again at the cuff to give the pirate effect. The blouse had high side splits. I also had a braided belt made out of the charmeuse fabric to go with the tunic. It came in Ivory, Black and a deep Crimson Red……..The next top was a combination of stretch velvet and stretch mesh. The mesh portion had matching small bugle beads scattered all over it……all hand sewn. The ballet neckline and the bottom of the short sleeve were bordered with the bugle beads. It came in Black and the Crimson Red….The sketch say it was supposed to be a body suit, but we changed it into a regular top. If you look closely you can see where I blackened out the bottom of the bodysuit….The last item in the group was a georgette pull-on skirt. The bottom of the skirt had two rows of pleats. Each row had a band approx. 1 1/4 inches wide of the charmeuse. The effect of the satin bands on the matte sheer georgette was really special and a very difficult detail to make. Sewing bands of charmeuse on to a sheer georgette takes patience and precise workmanship!! a very designer detail. These rows of pleats moved beautifully. This skirt looked great with so many pieces….It looked perfect with the two tops in the group, plus sweaters and blouses, and many jackets. It was a terrific “novelty” skirt to own.

……………………..October 07 had 3 new pieces and many reorders…….The suede jacket was a very complicated labor intensive piece. Another headache for Elaine! It had leather trims, studs and diagonal rows of metal rings that had leather strips lacing through them with stitches in between each ring to hold them in place. I had seen a photo of a shoulder bag that inspired me………….I had done a Tuxedo Tunic shirt at Anne Klein that looked very similar to this. It too had rhinestone buttons and rhinestone cuff links in French cuffs with a high low hem and pleated bib front…….Claudia Schiffer, the incredibly gorgeous German model with long wavy super sexy hair and an perfect body, made her solo entrance wearing this silk tunic with high heal PANT BOOTS in STRETCH BLACK VELVET studded all over with RHINESTONES…..Don’t know what a pant boot is??? It’s a shoe and skin tight leggings all in one…..NO SEAMS….so the shoe and the tights are all one. Claudia, walking down the runway looking like she was wearing a man’s tuxedo shirt and these sparkling legs, had every guy in the audience making hoot calls…….She was stunning!……The Linea pull on pant offered with this group had a very slim leg in stretch velvet……Not quite a rhinestone studded pant boot, but they did looked great with the shirt.