Monthly Archives: May 2021

…………………………Etro was and is still today the “King of Paisleys”, and that’s where I went to select my paisley print. It is the FINENESS and delicacy of the printing that makes all the difference. The clarity and fine lines that Etro could print would have to be double in thickness in any other printer’s hands. Prints are very personal, and what one woman loves may not be for another. As I always say, “not everything is for everyone”, and that is very true about prints. For those who loved them it was nirvana. The silk paisley above, styled in a longer, one button blazer with a breast band pocket and two bottom flap pockets, was in navy, cream, camel, bamboo and a berry red. It is mixed with an ivory silk shirt, a berry knit tank and navy gaberdine pants……The silk separates to the right are the navy silk jacket, the ivory knit tank and the berry red wrap sarong which came with a self fabric belt. Famke is wearing the blazer in berry silk over a navy knit tank and white linen pants……….Fresh, clean and modern, timeless.

………………I was and will always be my Mother’s baby…………I was the baby of three boys. There was a large gap in years between me and my middle brother John. My mother had a still born baby between us. It was full term, a girl and my mother named her Grace. My parents waited a few years and then I was born. I always felt like an only child growing up, because my brothers were so much older, and they didn’t want their baby brother tagging along……..My mother and I were very close. She was much closer to me than my brothers. That’s just the way it was, and it’s not that I was her baby….We had the same heart, the same mind, we appreciated the same things and we shared….She had a great influence on me………I think as children we forget that our parents had lives before we came into this world that had nothing to do with us. They had lives that had nothing to do with their eventual spouses. My mother’s name was Lorita, a beautiful exotic name, but everyone called her Edith. She was a RED head with soft brown eyes….a beautiful woman…. She was known as “carrot top”. A movie producer friend of hers, who gave her the name carrot top, wanted her to go to Hollywood, but that wasn’t for her….My mother laughingly told me when I was born at the age of 42, her red hair turned white!…..My mother and I would sit and talk about her life as a young child living in the village of NYC. We would look through her boxes of photographs, which I still have. She and her family lived on Thompson Street. On hot summer days she and her friends would go swimming in the fountain in Washington Square. She knew my father and his family from childhood. Their families came from the same city in Italy, Bari. We talked about her schooling as a teenager and her young adult life. My mother was a very independent woman, and had a full life with many experiences before she married my father at the age of 28, which in those days was considered old! She loved to go dancing, and she and her older brother Tom [a rake] entered many dance contests. When they won Tom would take the money and my mother would get the trophy! She worked in NYC for a high end dress company. She was a seamstress, a really good one, which would come in very handy when I had to sew my Parsons school projects!!! During market week her boss paid her extra to model for the buyers…She had great style and GREAT LEGS!!! She only wore pencil skirts and in her nineties would say to me, “I still have good legs!”, and she did….flawless! She told me about her girl friends, some pictured above, and about her boyfriends. She only kept photos of one of her boyfriends, I guess for her own reasons. This one boyfriend she did tell me about. The “Bonnie and Clyde” photo second in from the bottom left shows my mother on top of the car playing with her BBF’s hair. Her boyfriend is sitting to the far left. She told me he was very handsome, dark blond hair and blue eyes, and that she almost married him. I asked her why she didn’t. She told me she saw he had a mean streak, and she thought what would he be like to her and the children they might have if they married, so she wisely broke it off…..GOOD FOR ME!!!!…..My father was definitely the aggressor in the relationship and chased her. Sometimes he would take his mother and my mother’s mom on rides in his big black Packard just so she would come along….He was pretty crafty! Eventually he won her over, and they were married for 76 years…….My mother was my champion, and loved me unconditionally. She supported me with anything I wanted. If you asked my brothers they would say she spoiled me, and I guess in her way she did. We had a bond and an understanding that my brothers could never have with her. When she passed at the age of 94 I was crushed. It was the first time in my life that I lost someone that meant so much to me. I was shaken to the core and my heart was broken. There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t speak to her and look at her pictures that are all around the house……..Some say she had a long, and beautiful life…..for me she was gone too soon……………..Happy Mother’s Day to all of you!

………………………I had a great mother in law……Her name was Marianne. She was born in Belgium, and both of her parents, Jac’s grandparents, were cancer surgeons in Belgium. Jac’s mother was a model at 18. She and Jac had the same bodies, both tall and thin, the same blue eyes, the same strawberry blond hair, and the same long legs. What always struck me, just watching them, was how they moved about. How graceful they were without knowing it. I loved the way they moved their arms and how expressive they were with their hands. They were two swans………I have never EVER met a mother and daughter who were more devoted to each other. They had one heart….They were really inseparable……Just before WW11 the Germans were already a big presence in Belgium. Jac’s grandparents didn’t like the attention their daughter was getting from the soldiers. They saw what was happening else where and knew it was only a matter of time before the Nazi took over….so….they wisely decided to move to America. They both immediately started to work at Mt. Sinai Hospital in NYC. Jac mother continued to model in NYC, but she was introduced to her future husband by Jac’s grandmother…..Pierre Dubelle……..There was a large group of well educated and highly respected Belgians that would get together. Birds of a feather flock together. He was much older than Jac’s mother, but she was smitten by his charm and good looks. He also had a very important job in at the United Nations which was a very young organization. He was a very influential powerful man. It didn’t take long before they were married….Her father always worked and wasn’t home much….He died when Jac was 12, but for her his passing had little change in Jac’s life. She hardly knew him… It was Jac and her mother as it always had been. Jac did have a sister, also named Marianne, but it was always Jac and her mother……attached at the hip!!!….[photo bottom right second in was one of Jac’s favorites]…The TWO Musketeers……Marianne had a wonderful sense of humor [as you can see with the paper bag on her head!], and was a very creative, crafty person. She loved to paint and make things. She found a kindred spirit in me. Jac would be the first to admit she had absolutely no talent when it came to crafts or anything to do with art. Jac would say she couldn’t draw a straight line….so that was a special thing her Mom and I shared….What they did do well together was COOK. Her mom was a terrific cook and baker and taught Jac everything she knew. Her mother would make these incredible meals and Jac would only eat the vegetables!!!! When her mom would make my plate Jac would give me “THE EYE”…..and her mom would say…..”OH, let the boy eat!” Bless her heart!……….When she passed in the month of August, over 20 years ago [my parents were to pass that following Dec and Jan.], I thought Jac would go with her from a broken heart. Jac’s mom had lived with us for nine years, and when Jac’s mom passed Jac would sit in her mom’s bedroom, and write to her every day in her journals. There are stacks of them still there…….As you can see from the photos we have lots of them, and there are many many more of them in my house….boxes filled with them. Jac’s mom’s bedroom is exactly the same as when she was here. Every new season, after Jac’s mom’s passing, Jac would lay out on her bed a top appropriate for the season. Always a top that her mom loved and had special meaning. I have kept up with this tradition, and I too lay out a spring, summer, fall or winter  top as if she’s here to put it on. Somehow I know Jac would want me to do it. I remember reading how Queen Victoria would have Prince Albert’s clothes laid out for him every day after he died. It seemed obsessive when I read  about it, but now I understand the emotional need to keep them near……………..Now, the three most important women in my life are together in heaven. I know they are having a good time, and I know they miss me as much as I miss them.  I know they are saving my place, and some happy day we will all be together again……………..Happy Mother’s Day to the greatest Moms.

………………………I loved cables, from the most classic to the most complicated. If you’re a knitter you know what I mean when I say complicated. When I would go to Italy I sent a message ahead that I wanted to see samples of different cables….complicated cables! When I arrived there would be 10 or so samples for me to chose from. This kind of request is best left up to the professionals to create! The bamboo, 5 gauge cable cardigan had olive, berry red and terracotta stripes down the front, around the bottom and at the hems of the cuffs. The buttons were bleached real horn. It had a very casual college boy, preppy look. It was slightly oversided to look like you borrowed your best guys cardigan…..Under the cardigan was the olive knit tank, the ivory silk shirt, and the bamboo gaberdine trouser………To the right are three pieces in soft terracotta silk…..the blazer, the v-neck tank and a pull-on simple skirt. The self fabric belt came with the skirt…….Many times I would choose colors from make up. When I worked with make up artists I was always mesmerized by all of the color makeups they would line up. If they were flattering enough to put on the face….they were flattering enough to wear!

…………………..It’s funny to me how consistent I am as a designer with my color pallet….I liked what I like, and often repeated colors of a similar family. I was always drawn to natural colors and earth tones…a creature of habit…LOL…….However, I did branch out, and I did love jewel tones and bright colors, but I usually spaced them out with neutral collections……with an added accent color here and there…..Earth colors were always in my wheel house. Above, the plaid linen blazer is paired with the olive silk  blouse, the silk sand tank and the silk sand sarong skirt……The olive caftan dress had a button front with kimono sleeves. It had real pale bone buttons and wide turn back cuffs in sand silk……Famke is in an olive silk boyfriend jacket over a silk bamboo “Henley” shell and silk trousers… Silk Crepe de Chine had become a popular fabric in the designer market, but once the “Bridge” market, like Anne Klein 11 started to use it from China, the designer market used it less and less…It was still a wonderful fabric, and nothing could really take it’s place, but the Italian silk was so much more expensive than the China silk. Honestly I don’t think the consumer knew the difference…..They just knew the difference in price of the garments….It’s not that the designer market abandoned CDC altogether, but the clothes couldn’t be simple classics anymore. They had to be much more complicated where the Bridge market couldn’t copy them……This was the season of the Palm Frond jewelry, and I did a variety of styles and different frond designs……..Yes, 3o years ago the Palm Frond jewelry was born, and it still looks great today……When you design from nature….it’s always right.