Monthly Archives: May 2024

…………………..First, I’d like to wish all of the mothers here and in Heaven a Happy Mother’s Day………..There have been two women I have totally, and unconditionally loved in my life………Jac…….and my Mom!…….To try and list all of the many many things my Mom did for me through out her and my life would be impossible…..She was simply the VERY BEST…………She ALWAYS let me know how much she loved me. She was my great champion and support, and she always made me feel special…..I was “her baby”…..I never ever felt the loss of someone dying until my Mom died. It was sudden and devastating. I fell into such a depression, and I never thought about mortality until her passing. I have a photo of her when she was young and so beautiful on my bed table. When I moved into NYC at 19 it was very hard for her….She was now without any of her boys……..Mauro, John and me……She would bribe me to come home!…..”Lou” she would say……”come home and I’ll cook for you so you can take food back into the city…..and bring your laundry and I’ll do it for you”……My brothers would say…..”MOM, you’re still not doing his laundry!”, but neither one of them moved out of the house until they were married, so they went from my Mom to their wives who took care of them!…….My Mom was definitely our ROCK, and the center of our universe…..This picture was taken in Mass. at my aunt’s house. My brothers were ushers at my cousin’s wedding…..I always plant zinnias in my garden, because they were my moms favorite flowers…I’ve planted three flats so far!…..There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t think of my Mom…………..Happy Mother’s Day in Heaven Mom……..all my love always and forever….It will be a happy day when we are together again…………your Lou

…………………Estelle Lefebure Hallyday…….was another one of the most beautiful models I ever worked with. She was based out of Paris, and came to America for special bookings….These are photos from one of my Anne Klein nation ad campaigns for the Fall of 1993……..She was, and still is simply……..EXQUISITE!……One of the color schemes this collection was based around was camel hair fabrics and knits, and black with ivory silk blouses and sweaters, and touches of merlot and peanut brittle as in the Crocodile accessories……..I loved the cashmere/wool glen plaid blazer!…..Leopard was also a theme with Leopard prints, hair calf shoes and bags…….The Leopard silk scarf with golden Baroque borders was printed for me by ETRO……..Today……May 11th just happens to be Estelle’s birthday…….Happy birthday to Estelle………………All I can say about Estelle is……………..WHAT A FACE!

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……………….On a resort collection I had an idea to use a large RING as a detail….but not just any ring……a LEATHER COVER RING……Who was going to make such a thing for me? I called the young man, Matt, who was now developing the Anne Klein Couture Jewelry line, and we discussed over the phone what I was thinking of….We came to the conclusion that to keep the ring strong it should be a METAL RING covered in leather. It was stitched all the way around like a hand bag and had a raw edge like a belt. The jewelry company was SWANK, and they made men’s accessories too including a wide range of belts…..so it wasn’t difficult for Matt to get this done with all of the resources that were available to him.. The leather ring came out perfectly, and from that we developed a range of leather covered jewelry…..Hanging hoops with gold metal stud tops came in two sizes…..COIL metal cuffs covered in leather….that wrapped around the arm, and wide CUFFS were made in brown and black leather……The sketches from left to right….A striped knit top in chocolate brown and ivory had hot pint knit trims and a wrap around tie in the same knit…..The brown leather ring held the bra top together….I sketched it with a maxi ivory rayon crepe skirt……The next sketch is the same top in ivory knit. Again, with the brown leather ring, but this time the tie at the neck and the ties around the body were narrow flat brown leather strips. The pant is brown matte jersey…….The short dress was in ivory rayon crepe with self straps attached to a large center back brown leather large ring…….I don’t remember what the front looked like!!!!. She is sketched with the leather large hoop earring and the coil leather bracelet. I was very lucky to have Matt who made anything I asked for…..and more. He is still making jewelry, with another company and is in charge of the many divisions of jewelry they have. I am very proud of his success. He started with me at a very young age, and had a baby son and another on the way….Now they are college graduates!……. He proved to me over and over that he was an incredible talent! We still keep in touch!

…………………Every model that I worked with was beautiful in their own special way………but………every now and then a new model would walk into my studio on a “go see”, and they would take my breath away…..,It was truly a special moment of discovery………PAULINA PORIZKOVA……..was such a model……This very young girl walked into my office in a nonchalant manner, wearing a white T shirt and jeans and absolutely no makeup…….She was simple gorgeous….she was perfection! I booked her on the spot for my show and for my National Ad campaign. I used her for all of my shows from then on, and for many of my campaigns…..until she signed an exclusive contract with Este Lauder…..She was OFF THE MARKET!……I always felt she made a mistake, because the photos taken of her for the Lauder campaigns, though beautiful, were boring. As a model I thought she could have accomplished so much more…….However, Paulina didn’t really love modeling….she was more of an academic, and loved music. She had told me she really want to be a concert pianist……….The Lauder contract gave her LOTS of money……and lots of free time….which is what she wanted…..The photos above were done for a Spring campaign. She is wearing a poplin trench jacket with a shirt tail hem. The back shirt tail was much longer than the front. She’s wearing the khaki jacket over black poplin pants……….What a magnificent face!…..Paulina today is still a beautiful woman, and has NOT gone the route of plastic surgery or dreadful fillers…..She has chosen to age gracefully, which is exactly who I know her to be.