…………..HAPPY SEPTEMBER everyone…..and time marches on!……Another episode in the like and career of me…….After my sudden departure from Anne Klein…..I didn’t work for three months…..Jac said it was probably the best three months we ever spent together. We were together 24/7, and it was wonderful…..We slept late, we did some traveling, and worked on some creative projects we had put off….We went to the Grand Canyon and Sedona, and stayed at the Boulders Resort and Spa….it was beautiful, and very relaxing….We rented a jeep and just drove….What ever we felt like doing we did. We didn’t worry about our puppies……They were being well cared for so our time was our own without any obligations to anyone but each other. This was the first time we ever had this freedom and we loved it…..As the saying goes….”one window closes and another opens”…..One day….out of the blue I got a call from Dawn Mello…….Dawn was the Fashion Director of Bergdorf Goodman, and was second in command at the store. She had this position for many years, and was a legend in the Fashion world…………..She wanted to speak with me, and we set up a meeting in her office. I had no clue what this was about and she gave no hints…..so I went with an open mind….I always had a very good relationship with Dawn…She offered me a job! She wanted me to design a collection exclusively for Bergdorf Goodman, Neiman Marcus and Holt Renfrew in Canada. Bergdorf and Neiman’s are owned by the same parent company and they had an affiliation with Holt Renfrew. I really wasn’t sure what the connection was, but it was a beautiful store on the same level as the other two. When I was at Anne Klein I used to sell to all three of them…..Dawn explained to me that the line she wanted me to design was to be called “DEI TRE”, which was Italian and literally translated to mean “of three”. It was to be a designer level line. My name would not appear on the label, but everyone knew who designed it…..The pricing, though expensive, was one level lower the designer brands in the store. I could hire whatever help I needed. The line was to be produced in ITALY just outside of Milan so that meant travel! I would have to go to the factory that would be responsible for the manufacturing, and fit the collection there. This would be new for me……I had never produced an entire apparel collection in Italy……The “factory” was beautiful! Actually, only the very expensive items, and the most difficult to make were made in this facility. Everything else was made in outside factories….All of my sketches were sent in advance, and I had to go and fit the entire collection in two weeks on an Italian model……I vividly remember on one trip, as I was fitting on the model, we heard Gianni Versace was killed in Florida! What a shock……Of course the gossip in Italy went wild and everyone had their opinion of who killed Gianni…..Most thought it was the Mafia….They thought Versace was laundering money for the Mafia through all of their stores around the world. When Gianni became famous he refused to work with them any longer, and he was killed…..At least that was the story immediately going around Italy….Whether it’s true or false I don’t know…At Dei Tre…back in NYC…there were group meetings, and I met with each person from each store that would be representing their individual interests, and be a part of the decision making…..The collection would be housed in its’ own boutique in each store….It all sounded good to me, and I was ready to go back to work. This fell into my lap, and I couldn’t turn it down…….Never in my entire career did I go searching for a position…..Before graduating Parsons I was chosen to be the assistant designer at Teal Traina. While I was at Traina’s I got a call asking if I would be interested in becoming the designer for a brand new sportswear division of Originala. It was called Giorgini, and I took the new job. I was 20. I loved it there and met great people. It was where I learned the responsibility of what a designers job truly was……building a collection from nothing but your imagination…. I was there for almost three years, when I got the call from Donna asking if I wanted to join her as co designer for Anne Klein. It was an offer I couldn’t refuse. Anne Klein was the “IT” company. Naturally, my boss at Giorgini, Allan Duddle, wasn’t happy , but also wasn’t about to stand in my way. Unfortunately, Giorgini closed about a year after I left……TWENTY years at Anne Klein came to an abrupt end…….and after three months I got the call from Dawn…………….Design jobs just seemed to come out of no where………….I always felt blessed.
