………………..November 05 featured TWO BOUCLE WOOL jackets and many reorders [not shown above]……….The large sketch at the top right was really spectacular, and still is one of my all time favorites. The emb. design I had originally created for a shearling coat. The coat is Jac’s and it is now in storage. It will go to my niece Danielle…….I designed a line of furs and shearlings while I was designing for QVC. I worked with a small company owned by a husband and wife who both migrated here from Russia. The quality of their garments was superb, but they needed a lot of design help….A mutual friend asked me if I would like to work with them, and have a small line with my name on the label. For many years I designed furs for Anne Klein…..so this was not knew to me. After a few years I decided I didn’t want to design in fur anymore and left them. It was a hard decision, because I knew it would put them right back in the position I found them. I also brought big name stores to them, and I developed a robust business with them, but it was something I could no longer do. I heard through our mutual friend that after a while they decided to close the business and both worked for different fur companies…The combination of the richly textured boucle and the embroidery gave these jackets a very expensive designer look. The fact that we could sell these jackets for under $90 amazed me. I know if I sold the exact same jacket at Anne Klein they would have been $800 easy……The narrow banding around the collar, down the front, around the bottom and the border of the sleeve were all embroidered. The body of the jacket, front and back and the sleeves were completely embroidered in paisleys, flowers, berries and leaves. The buttons were DTM. The jacket came in Forest Green, Burgundy and Black………..The second boucle jacket had a stand collar with a button front. It too had an emb. banding edging the collar down the front and at the hems of the jacket and sleeve. The emb. came from an antique wall stencil design…….The emb was a combination of tonal thread and lurex…….The Sienna had a bright copper tread with copper lurex, the black had golds, and the purple had a brighter purple thread with gold lurex…………….The cardigan at the far left came in ivory and black with a coordinating tank. The “kissing” front closed with hook and eyes. It had a jewel neckline and 3/4 sleeves……The emb was a beautiful combination of pearls, black round beads, gold round beads and small gold and black sequins. What made my sweater so different from others on QVC or even in retail stores was the lavish amount of emb. It NEVER looked skimpy, and always looked so much more expensive than what they were. This sweater and the paisley boucle were both reordered the next year…….There were five additional reorders with this Nov. group to end the year!!
I think you posted a picture a long time ago of Jac, and she was wearing that shearling coat- I think it had fur cuffs?
You are absolutely correct It had the black long hair shearling cuffs and collar. I just gave the coat to my niece on Monday. It was difficult parting with it, but Jac wanted Danielle to have it. After 3 years it was time, and Danielle looked great in it.
Girls, are we talking furs???? Nothing wraps a woman like Blackglama, that and give me my RUSSIAN sable!!!!
I get a tear in my eye when I think about all of the blazers and jackets I missed before discovering Linea. Louis, these jackets are gorgeous, like the others that you’ve posted. And I’m sure that Jac’s shearling coat is beyond gorgeous. Your story about the Russian couple made me wonder how the faux fur market has impacted the industry. Has the improved quality of faux fur, along with faux suede and faux leather, changed the way designers work with/offer the real thing?
Not really Michelle….I think PETA, and animal rights and conservationists had more to do with it. Women around the country were afraid of having buckets of red paint thrown on their fur coats.I once went to Norway and Finland for the fur skin shows and auctions.I was invited by the fur associations of each country… I also went to the farms where they breed animals like mink and foxes of all types and saw how they were killed. Then to the auctions where it was pretty horrifying seeing all of those hundreds of carcasses hanging on hooks lined up to be sold to the highest bidder.I still love the look of real fur, but my conscious got the better of me. There really isn’t a substitute for the real thing. Most faux furs look like bathroom floor rugs or toilet bowl covers……IMHO….Nothing will ever look or feel like Sable, or sheered Beaver, or Chinchilla or Silver Fox.
Thank you Louis for sharing your exquisite designs. I still enjoy wearing the burgundy boucle jacket. It is still just as beautiful as the day I received it. I have the twin set sweater in black. It is so elegant to this day. I usually wear around holidays, but I think I will accessorize it with your ivory pants this Spring. Hopefully we can get out more by then. Thank you, thank you Louis! I enjoy coming to the blog each day with a hot cup of tea. I feel so blessed to be dressed by you. Enjoy your day!
I have and still wear both of these toppers, Louis. And I think I had this sweater and tank set in clear red with black and gold beads, (possibly a reorder color?) that I wore to glam holiday parties over flowy black velvet trousers. Timeless treasures, thank you!
I could never get enough of these boucle toppers and jackets, Louis. When the boucle wasn’t enough to ward off the cold outdoors, I threw one of my Peruvian alpaca capes over it. Perfect! Complements galore. it is still my favorite way to dress for winter outdoors unless it gets so frigid that I need to pull out my Silver Lynx that I bought in Canada many years ago. They told me back then that fur wasn’t a luxury but a necessity in Canada, and I succumbed.