Yearly Archives: 2023

………………..The year was 1976…..”A CHORUS LINE” opened on Broadway along with a Stephen Sondheim show named “PACIFIC OVERTURES”…..It was a banner year for Broadway!….For some reason designers individually  decided to take their shows out of the showrooms and venture out into other venues Restaurants, nightclubs and theaters were being booked by designers to show their collections…..A model we were using, who came to us from California, new people at the Shubert organization, and we were able to book the WINTER GARDEN THEATER for our show……I could write a book on this alone. There were so many different stories and intrigues that went on. Using the theater with a show that was currently playing  brought us many many complications. Firstly, unions were involved! OH BOY!!! Secondly we had to use the two stage managers to run our show!!! Donna and I had to give them total control over the production of the show since we were not allowed, nor did we know the first thing about doing a show in a Broadway theater! We couldn’t rehearse in the theater at all so we used an empty floor in our building at 205 West 39th Street to rehearse. The models were brought in in groups depending on what “scene” they were in the show. This was all preplanned by the two fellows who ran it……. I wish I could remember their names, because they were incredible……I will call them “the guys”…. At first they wanted us to use show girls!!!!, but show girls are not MODELS. They just don’t move the same way. They are very theatrical, and frankly not nearly as beautiful……That we said absolutely NO to. We booked 26 to 30 models to do the show….I don’t remember the exact number….. Little did we know that “the guys” were planning on having at least 10 to 12 models on the stage at once….How were they going to make the changes. The whole process was a nightmare….The groups of models would be coming in to rehearse when the guys were free from their theater duties. They promised that everything would be Okay. They would have enough dressers to take care of the models back stage…..The rehearsals went on and on…Donna and I had no idea what was happening, and sometimes I don’t know if the models did either!!!…The day of the show was a Monday when the theater was “dark”. Everything was set up backstage. “The guys” had worked it out that we would be using props from the actual show like a huge tree on stage, and stage hands were at the ready to do what ever was necessary. They were being paid anyway due to union regulations. The rehearsal was a disaster!!!!!!!!!The models weren’t making their changes and they were coming out onto the stage still dressing themselves!!!! Donna and I were freaking out as we were sitting in the orchestra watching this debacle. “The guys” told us a bad rehearsal meant a great show! Theater folklore!! “The guys” selected all of the music and each segment was like a little show in it’s self…….This was so far removed from anything Donna or I could have ever conceived of that we felt totally helpless, and had to trust “the guys” 1000%……The models were frantic! The guys called a meeting on the stage before the show with everyone involves….Models, dressers, lighting and music people, the people responsible for cueing and the DANCERS!!! Yes there were even some dancers involved……They gave a speech to calm nerves, and gave a pep talk…….The fall 1976 shows had started the week before and ours on the Monday was one of the last to be presented. Designers had already been racked over the coals by the press for dragging the media, the buyers the magazine editors all over town to see their shows. We were APOPLECTIC, and so fearful that this was going to be a disaster. At this point we had no idea what this show was going to look like, and there was no time to have a second dress rehearsal….We just had to leave it in the hands of “the guys” the models and everyone else who was working on the show. Donna and I were not allowed to be backstage! so we decided we would hide in the highest tier of the highest balcony and watch from there…….. The theater started to fill up….it was packed!!! Frank Mori, the president of the company stayed with us in the balcony for moral support…….The lights dimmed….the theater was dark….then Kabuki music started to play softly, and it got louder and louder…..the from the left a spotlight hit the wings and a LION DANCER came out and up onto a small Hanamichi stage that started in the wings and went diagonally right onto the stage. This side stage is often used in Japanese Kabuki theater, but with all of the turmoil we never even noticed it…….The Lion Dancer came onto the stage did his dramatic little dance and went to the far end of the stage and started to pull the curtain back revealing 12 models on the stage!!!!! It was simply spectacular. This was not done in the rehearsal! It was something “the guys” had planned with the dancers to open the show….The audience went WILD and the applause was deafening! Each segment went off perfectly! For the final scene huge golden screens came floating across the stage over lapping one another…..then Frank Sinatra started singing “Come dance with me”, and a model came out from behind each of the screens at the same time in long evening gowns and stood in front of them…..pealing off one by one until the last model and the last screen was gone…..Then the music changed to Ravel’s Bolero…..softly at first and building to a crescendo as models in gold and combinations of gold and black and gold and red came out one by one filling the stage……..It was a spectacle!!!!! The show ended with the entire stage filled with all of the models…..the music stopped….the models stood there……then SILENCE!!!! Donna and I looked at each other in horror!!!! They hated it….it was a massive failure!!!….Then the audience got up to massive applause and BRAVOS!!!! It was a standing ovation! We were way up in the balcony and Frank said you two have got to get down there and get up on that stage…..we flew……we made it to the Hanamichi and went onto the stage……the audience was still applauding and yelling! we could not have been happier and grateful to “THE GUYS” for pulling this magnificent show off….The applause went on and on….everyone on stage was hugging and crying!!!! It was a major release of tension for everyone….The photo was taken after the show in the front lobby of the Winter Garden Theater. It is of Donna and myself, and from left to right out dearest friends….Maurice Antaya…..Richard Assatly…..Frank Masandrea…..,and Patti Capelli…..The look on our faces is pure joy and pure relief…..The show was a huge success and was talked about for weeks after. The reviews were astonishing, and the show was compared to “A Chorus Line”…………..My only regret was that a video wasn’t done of the show. Because of the unions the theater wanted an astronomical amount of money for us to do a video, so the company said no…..If they had only known what a success the show was going to be they probably would have had one made…..This story is just the surface of what took place during the weeks leading up to the show……..As I said…..I could write a book on this show alone.

I have just been informed that ALL but two sterling jewelry items are on SALE……also many Fashion jewelry items are on SALE too……check it out!

………………………..At the point this photo was taken….I was on my own at Anne Klein. Donna had gone on to do her thing and I was at the helm of a $2,500,000 company. I was doing a trunk show in California and Joan Quinn [with the scarf on her head…..google her….a very interesting woman] threw me a small intimate dinner with 10 friends. To the left is Zandra Rhodes, the famous British designer, and our friend Patti Capelli seated at the right. I don’t recall the man’s name, but he was a friend of Joan’s and Zandra’s I believe Patti’s husband Laurance took the picture. It was a fun night out…….another memory!

…………………..Every Spring and Fall Season I along with Donna Karan, would make a shoe presentation at the office of our shoe licensee Schwartz & Benjamin. After working with Andrea Pfister developing the shoe collection it was the long wait……waiting for the shoes samples to arrive from Italy. Phillis Footer, second photo in from the right, and middle photo at the bottom, worked for S&B. She would work with Donna and myself and Andrea in Italy at the villa developing the shoes. Then it was her job to take what we had done to different factories and put the samples into work!!! A grueling job!! When the shoes finally arrived in NYC, after months, we would all meet at the office to go through the shoes and select what we liked…It was very exciting to see the fruition of all od our work…..Then we had a meeting with the sales staff and presented the collection. The photos are of us going through all of the samples and laying them out on the floor before the sales staff arrived…..This presentation went on each year, twice a year for all of the years I worked with AK……..After Donna left Phillis and I and Andrea continued to develop the shoe collections, and they were beautiful! The Anne Klein Couture Shoe Collection was a huge successful collection, and just grew and grew. When I left AK, Phillis continued the line but the new AK designers, which were many. They never devoted the time or creative energy that Donna and I did, and it was never the same……..The photo at the upper left is of Jac modeling the shoes, and myself presenting the shoe collect to the selling staff. This was in the late 80s, and Jac is wearing an outfit from the collection……Shortly after I left AK…. Andrea was also dismissed. The “new” designer of the AK collection wanted to go in a “different direction”………After so many successful years the AK company was headed on a downward spiral and the licenses paid the price due to the lack of “designer” direction.

I would assume by now everyone who ordered any of the Sterling or Bronze pieces during the Presidents day and extended sale must have received your items by now. I would love to know what you think of them and did you leave any reviews?