Monthly Archives: October 2024

…………………….If there were one moment, or one year in your life that you would want to relive……….WHAT WOULD IT BE????………….After thinking about this question I posed to myself….I really had to think hard…..If it was a moment…..it would be the day I married Jac…….but if I had to pick a year……it would be 1978……….That was the year I became THIRTY…..the year this photo was taken……Don’t get me wrong….my twenties were fabulous…..I started working at Anne Klein….a wonderful journey….I lived the kind of life a New York city boy in his twenties would live…..Lots of friends and going out almost every night……But it was also a time of GROWING PAINS…….Not really knowing who I was….jumping around from here to there……one relationship after the other….a some what chaotic life!…….In 1978, when I became THIRTY….it all changed…..By then I was established in my career…..I was lucky to  have great success…..I was feeling more of myself, and who I wanted to be……I had a clear direction……..That was also the year of a momentous decision……Jac and I started to date seriously….there was no more running….Jac always said to me…..”I taught you how to LOVE”……and she did……Did my life take a 360 degree turn…..no…..My 30th birthday was at STUDIO 54, and it was a blast, but it was somehow different from all the other nights, and early mornings I spent there!…I no longer felt the NEED to go out every night, and probably do some things I shouldn’t have done….but no regrets……I was at ease with myself….I was comfortable in my own skin……which had a great deal to do with Jac……..My 30th year was an awakening for me in so many ways……Of course if I could snap my fingers and relieve a part of my life again…..it would be the years Jac and I were together……but my “awakening” of who I was as a man was clear to me…….If I could relive one year it would be that year……….1978.

………….. I just received a new book……”THE BATTLE OF VERSAILLES……THE FASHION SHOW DOWN OF 1973″ by Mark Bozek…….This historic fashion show pitted 5 AMERICAN DESIGNERS against 5 FRENCH DESIGNERS……..It was a huge benefit show for the preservation of the Palace of Versailles……A large group of American models were selected by the American designers to represent them, while the French had their own group of models….The top photo in the center shows the American models arriving in Paris….Jac is third in from the right……LIZA MINELLI also represented the Americans, and sang the opening number…..”BONJOUR PARIS”…..[photos left column, second pictures in]….She brought the house down!….The American show was directed by her Godmother and movie star KAY THOMPSON…..known for her song “THINK PINK” in “FUNNY FACE”, with Audrey Hepburn and Fred Astaire…….The Americans were faced with unprecedented challenges…….First, the stage sets that were designed for the show, and made in America, all had to be scraped, because when they arrived it was realized they were made with American measurements….NOT EUROPEAN, so they didn’t fit. The French rehearsed all day, while the American models had to wait for them  to be finished, which meant the models rehearsed into the night in a freezing cold palace….It was NOVEMBER!……Tempers FLARED!…..The French segment lasted OVER two hours…..with an overproduced production that everyone thought was…..BORING!…..The American fast paced segment, showing the FIVE DESIGNERS, was less than 40 minutes!…It was GREAT MODELS showing SENSATIONAL CLOTHES on a stark empty stage with the best, most current American popular HOT music at the time….a PEREFECT COMBINATION!…It was a TRIUMPH!!!!…..The Americans won the battle HANDS DOWN…….The Americans got huge applause from the stellar audience with the gold playbills flying into the air!!!!………JAC was one of the models…..She was a teenager, and we hadn’t even met yet! She was in 3 of the 5 segments, and Steven Borrows wanted her for his segment, because she worked with him, but it would have meant she was in three back to back segments, and it would have been impossible for her to make the quick changes……She was in the opening ANNE KLEIN segment….the middle BILL BLASS segment [photo of her in the long white dress with the veiled hat, and the last OSCAR de la RENTA segment [photo of her in the white chiffon dress with the bow…..I have to say the author, or who ever did the research on who the models were in the Bill Blass picture was incorrect about who the model was with Jac in the Bill Blass photo! Jac in the Bill Blass outfit is not with Tasha, she is with Carol Brandt Stoltz who told me about this new book…..For years Bill Blass had a giant blow up of this picture mounted on a board, and it stood proudly behind his desk…..He used to do all his fittings on Jac…..He called her his “Carol Lombard/Grace Kelly”……..Liza opened the American segment, and closed the show……Afterwards there was a gala dinner in The Hall of Mirrors which Jac attended…..wearing a see through nude mesh, long body hugging halter dress with a deep V-neck neckline with crystals all over…..a la Marylin Monroe……She was escorted into the dinner by a very handsome man, named Tom Fallon who was Bill Blass’s right hand assistant……She apologized to him for not wearing Blass, but he said “honey, don’t give it a thought….you look incredible”…….Jac was a sensation!!!!!!!!!……..NEVER again would the American designers be thought of as second to the French!!!!…..It’s a fun book with lots of information and pictures!

……………………Sunday morning…we all got up early, because Michelle, who’s a realtor, had a 1:00pm showing of a house, and there was a lot we wanted to do before they got on the road……First stop Elm Street Diner…[photos at left…The poster outside shows their famous “desert”…it’s a design your own, or they will make one for you….It’s a mile high with all kinds of ice cream, whipped cream, candies and even lollipops sticking out…..Honestly it’s kind of gross, and I can’t believe how many people order it! Talk about a sugar overload….They even order one for breakfast to share….yuck!….I order fried eggs and bacon…no potatoes please, but Matty jumped in, and said I’ll take my uncle’s potatoes!….He had the “Lumberjack Special”….Poached egg on top of a stack of pancakes with bacon, a sausage paddy, a slice of ham, and toast!….That 6’6” boy can eat!…..Michelle had the French toast with blueberries, which were the size of marbles!….Breakfast was yummy!!……..Then off to Terrain, a wonderful store in Westport Ct…….You simply can not go into that store without buying something. There is also a cafe in the store and it was full of people enjoying their meals….We walked around the store with baskets in hand buying all kinds of Halloween decorations, soaps and candles….Matty and Michelle had given me as a present, a “Blueberry Muffin” candle…..photo bottom right….and it smells just like a blueberry muffin!…..His older brother Chris, had given me this heat lamp that you put a candle under. The heat of the lamp melts the candle without any flame!…and boy does it work! It’s great because you can put it on a timer, and you can leave the house without worrying about a burning candle………Then off they went back to Long Island…….another fun visit with my family!