Monthly Archives: November 2021

………………My dear Friend Maurice will be 85 on Nov. 12th…….Maurice is my oldest friend in years and my oldest in length of time, and have been friends for over 50 YEARS . We were both designers working for the same company Originala which had many divisions. Maurice designed the Ginori collection and I designed the Giorgini collections. Maurice was a seasoned designer, but this was my very first job designing clothes, and I was petrified. Our offices butted up against each other and we shared a sample room…..Our friendship had a bumpy start, but we soon became fast friends……a friendship that has lasted the test of time. As fate would have it Maurice would eventually work for me as the head designer of Anne Klein 11……I called Maurice and we made a date to go and see the DIOR exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum of Art, and I would take him out for a birthday lunch. I’m embarrassed to say I hadn’t been to the museum in over 40 years. As a Parson’s student we were required to go to the Brooklyn Museum to their fashion department and do research on fashion history…..something that unfortunately does not happen anymore in design schools. I met Maurice at his apt. at 10 Hanover Square in the heart of the financial district. He has a small but lovely apt….He always had impeccable taste. Our mutual friend Steve, who also worked for me, met us at his apt. Steve also designs, but his work is very different and specific. Steve designs religious vestments and all clothing a priest wears, and everything that dresses an alter. It’s very interesting work……..The plan was to meet at Maurice’s then take the subway to the museum, have lunch and on to the museum to see this fantastic exhibit…..I had not been in a subway for 40 years!!!!! Steve had to help me to get a Metro ticket to get on the train! It was a short ride from lower Manhattan to Brooklyn. We went to a small “Soul Food” restaurant, and had a delicious lunch…..then on to the museum. Steve had already bought the tickets so we were good to go. Masks and vaccine card were required!

………………………..I had heard the Christian Dior exhibit was not to be missed, but I wasn’t prepared for just how incredible this show would be!!! I had seen many fabulous fashion exhibits at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, but this show at the Brooklyn Museum, IMHO surpassed anything else I had seen…….it was overwhelming. Not only was Dior well represented, but every designer who has ever designed the Dior Couture Collection was represented. The show encompassed every aspect of the world of Dior. Besides the clothes there were fabulous photos,  shoes, jewelry, handbags, hats and even the Dior perfumes were exhibited…A room devoted to toiles was inspiring……The show started off with the famous Dior “BAR SUIT”. During the war years fabrics were at a minimum and small miniatures were made to sell the collection. Boussac of France, a fabric manufacturer backed Christian Dior. After the war Dior showed a COLLECTION OF EXTRAGANCE with yards and yards of fabric, and shapes that were brand new even though they referenced shapes of centuries gone by. The collection was revolutionary and was the talk of Paris and the world. With a single collection…..Dior put Paris back on top.

……….Though out the exhibit there were walls of photos and videos……here are just a few. The iconic photo by Avedon of Dovima with the elephants [the dress was on exhibit], the Irving Penn photo  [center bottom] of the coat with the incredible collar, and the photo at the lower right with Audrey Hepburn in the center were part of a black and white presentation.

……………….Each designer had a grouping of their things and then more clothes of each designer were incorporated through out the exhibit. These clothes were all Yves St. Laurent. When Dior suddenly died the mantel was passed on to his very young assistant [21 or 22]. YSL. Dior had already chosen him to take over but the owners of the company weren’t sure if he could handle this enormous money making company at such an early age. They were all in shock that Dior died so suddenly, but YSL did take over and was an over night sensation. The sketches to the left are original YSL from the Dior archives. YSL introduced the very controversial “TRAPEEZ DRESS”, among many other controversial styles. Some of the fashion critics weren’t kind or complimentary, but the clients loved his clothes, and that was all that mattered to the company. Yves St. Laurent became a STAR>

…………………..YSL was drafted into the French army, and had a nervous breakdown! He was in a hospital for quite some time. The owners of Dior fired him and hired Bohan to take over. St Laurent was devastated, but his best friend and lover at the time, Pierre Berge convinced him to start his own company and history was made……Bohan designed lovely commercial things, and lasted at Dior for quite a few years.