Yearly Archives: 2024

…………………I watch a lot of……YouTube…….It entertains me……I love to listen to these incredibly talented singers from around the world…….Once in a while one of these talented people reaches me to the core like no other has…….Timothy James Bowen………is one of those people……He was on “THE VOICE AUSTRALIA”, and I wish I could hear him sing again……His rendition of…..”I Can’t Make You Love Me”…..will melt you away…….I haven’t heard anyone sing it as well as him…..since Bonnie Rait!…………His story is inspirational!…….He is a 30 year old, stage 4 cancer survivor who had a rare blood cancer…..He tells of how his wife Christina, pictured at the right, was by his side and pulled him through….”THUNDER & FLAME”…..He got a FOUR CHAIR TURN almost immediately, and had the judges under his spell……….When he finished singing everyone wanted more, and request he sing another song…..Timothy, a singer songwriter, sang for them an original song that he wrote for his wife as a wedding present……..It’s called…..”The Greatest Thing”………I’m telling you if you’re in the mood to have your heart strings pulled go to YouTube and listen to Timothy sing…..you’ll listen to him, as I have, over and over again……………..and just look at that SMILE!

………………..As you can see from these many croquis, my fascination with “sheer” continued for Resort 1986. I would sketch everything sheer that came into my head until I was ready to move on…..At the lower left is a white cotton satin, [different from cotton sateen], zip front jacket with a sheer BONED corset midsection. It had faux pocket flaps, and inseam pockets. The jacket had body seams for shape. It also had a narrow collar and lapel…….The cropped bustier was also in the cotton satin. It had a zip front and a sheer boned midsection……The pant was a low rise wide leg style with a side zipper to keep the front and back clean…….The three button, very fitted jacket with oversized patch pockets, at the upper right, had a sheer back…There was also a matching pencil skirt…….All of the sheer fabrics had…….S-T-R-E-T-C-H!

……………..Additional croquis for Resort 86’…..On the left….the stretch rayon matte jersey tank dress with the stretch chiffon back, and wide bordered hem….This particular white matte jersey was weighty and dense enough that it wasn’t see through as some white fabrics can be….Next is a group of rib knit ideas…..a skirt…..in the middle a short sleeve Henley type shirt sweater with cotton poplin trims, and wide leg high waisted tuxedo pants, and a crop cardigan, with elbow sleeves, again with cotton poplin trims worn with stretch cotton crepe side zip shorts.

…..These sketches are part of my “Croquis Series”…..They are quick sketches to jot ideas down…..I do them when an idea comes to me so I don’t forget it latter….For each collection I can sketch well over 200 little drawings of clothes, shoes and accessories….Not all of the sketches become part of the collection, Actually, it’s a much smaller percentage of them that become reality…..The rest I save for another collection, or just store away…..These are croquis I did for my Anne Klein Resort /Summer 1986 collection……I always loved the look of sheer fabrics especially when combined with something opaque in one garment…….Starting at the far left is a silk Organza coat with a cotton poplin collar, lapel, front band and facing, and oversized pockets. The sleeves were finished with cotton bands that rolled up…or not…..The sheer organza shirt has a poplin shirt collar, and stand….a placket front, two breast pockets with buttons, and the 3/4 sleeve had cotton buttoned cuffs….It’s sketched with stretch cotton crepe Capri pants……The sheer chiffon shirt had a poplin notched collar, placket front and ribbed knit cuffs on the 3/4 length sleeves [sketched pushed up]…It’s sketched with a ribbed knit skirt…..The short sheer chiffon “sweater” had short sleeves with sweater knit rib bands finishing it off…..The chiffon jacket below has cotton crepe trims. It is shown worn over a rayon/cotton lycra blend dress……..The linen/cotton blend tunic sweater in the center is worn over a short chiffon skirt…The sweater had exaggerated ribbed borders…..The fabric ideas jotted down…were just that…ideas….Some would be changed later when the sketch got put into sample making……..Considering these croquis were done over 38 years ago……I think they are still modern, and I would use them today!

…………….In a sea of ridiculous clothes that walked down the Fall 24/25 runways there were a few voices of sanity………I LOVED Isabel Marant’s Fall collection as seen on YouTube. This is just a tiny sampling of the beautiful WEARABLE outfits she presented……..My kind of clothes!