Monthly Archives: February 2021

………………March 08 really said SPRING IS HERE……Starting at the bottom left a true Spring Blazer. It had all of the Linea hallmarks of a true blazer, but to change it up a little it had 3/4 sleeves with FRENCH CUFFS……and LARGE POKER CHIP BUTTONS in contrast colors…….so the ivory had Black and the Black blazer had Ivory buttons….To give the jacket some exaggeration the pocket flaps were larger than normal and the French cuffs were also larger……..,even the top stitching was 1/2 to 3/4 “…… The jacket had a wonderful shape due to the body seams, and it had a strong shoulder. The fabric was in a wonderful smooth stretch woven gaberdine. The pockets were in the seams…..The next blouse [at the bottom left], had a scoop neckline, but not very deep, and a 3/4 sleeve with a very narrow single button band cuff. The neckline, hem and side slits plus the cuff were bordered with narrow bands in black CDC…….The tiny “Art Nouveaux” design that you see in the lower picture that looks like small dots were actually baby black SEQUINS, all hand sewn….down the fronts and both sleeves…..The blouse had a nice little glimmer, but not so much that it only looked like an evening blouse. It and looked fun with black jeans and all kinds of pants and skirts like the georgette pleated skirt at the upper right or a summer Boho……The next jacket was in suede and came in red and navy….they were too chicken to order the yellow which was my favorite…….cleaning issues was the reason………The next A-line jacket was in silk Shantung. I think the sketch says it all…It had 3/4 sleeves and self fabric covered buttons…..The diagonal seaming on this jacket was very interesting. The pockets were in the seams…..it came in that beautiful pale SHELL PINK…..The blouse at the top left was in Silk Crepe De Chine and was in a charming two color tiny leaf pattern. It came in Ivory/Black, Red/Black [not shown] and Blue/Black….What made this peasant type blouse interesting and fresh was the corded self fabric over lapping scallops that were pre-made on a tape, and then sewn into the neckline and the bottom of the cuff. You can see a trial that was sent of the scallop in black CDC for approval. The actual scallop trim was done in the matching print…….The Tennis type v-neck cardigan with short sleeves had TONAL contrast trims. It was in the rayon/nylon blend [WK] and had DTM buttons….What was interesting about this little cardigan was the front was all fake. It looked like it opened and the buttons worked through button holes, but it was sewn closed where the bands attached to the body. There was no chance of gaping and this really wasn’t the type of cardigan to wear open. The colors were Pink/Deep Pink/, Ivory/Black and Blue/Deep Blue. It looked great over the poly CDC knife pleated skirt with the drop yoke. The skirt came in Ivory and Black and worked with everything. It would still be a great skirt today!

………………………..Ladies I just noticed that this cotton blend EYELET SKIRT is on SALE!!!!! It truly is a beauty. The eyelet fabric is exceptional and so much richer than anything else you will find. I was thrilled when I found this fabric…..and the colors……….WHITE…………….BLACK …………SAPPHIRE BLUE……………….how can you go wrong………..For my Southern ladies it’s a MUST HAVE, and for my Northern Ladies it is something you will wear every Spring and Summer…and the black and blue can be worn into the fall with a change of top like a Black WK and black boots…..QVC NEVER gave this skirt a proper showing….They put it on some late over night show that so many missed……Don’t let this beauty slip through your fingers….There are no more where this came from!!!! Don’t have regrets later……………………..much Love…………Louis

……………………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.