…………………..It’s funny to me how consistent I am as a designer with my color pallet….I liked what I like, and often repeated colors of a similar family. I was always drawn to natural colors and earth tones…a creature of habit…LOL…….However, I did branch out, and I did love jewel tones and bright colors, but I usually spaced them out with neutral collections……with an added accent color here and there…..Earth colors were always in my wheel house. Above, the plaid linen blazer is paired with the olive silk blouse, the silk sand tank and the silk sand sarong skirt……The olive caftan dress had a button front with kimono sleeves. It had real pale bone buttons and wide turn back cuffs in sand silk……Famke is in an olive silk boyfriend jacket over a silk bamboo “Henley” shell and silk trousers… Silk Crepe de Chine had become a popular fabric in the designer market, but once the “Bridge” market, like Anne Klein 11 started to use it from China, the designer market used it less and less…It was still a wonderful fabric, and nothing could really take it’s place, but the Italian silk was so much more expensive than the China silk. Honestly I don’t think the consumer knew the difference…..They just knew the difference in price of the garments….It’s not that the designer market abandoned CDC altogether, but the clothes couldn’t be simple classics anymore. They had to be much more complicated where the Bridge market couldn’t copy them……This was the season of the Palm Frond jewelry, and I did a variety of styles and different frond designs……..Yes, 3o years ago the Palm Frond jewelry was born, and it still looks great today……When you design from nature….it’s always right.
I purchased the silk sand sarong skirt! It was a mainstay my summer wardrobe. It was so slimming and went with everything.
It made sense Louis that you would use very soft subtle
colors that flatter . You were probably trying to project
to QVC what a high end designer palate should look like. Besides, olive and taupes with olive tones just seem to bring out everyone’s skin tone to its best advantage, everyone seems to easily wear this color and look really healthy in it. And, it takes a great deal
Of restraint for designers to stick to proven winners and not be tempted to “experiment”. I remember when you
Would ask “What new colors do you want for the leather jacket reorder?” I would beg for colors like lime, marigold, lemon yellow and fuchsia. And you would flatly say, no. LOL.
LOL…it’s not that i wouldn’t like a lemon yellow leather jacket or lime or any other color, I did them at Anne Klein. I knew for the minimum amount that would have to be bought we would never sell them. Most women just don’t want to invest over one hundred dollars for a color jacket. Given a choice they will go with the safe color……pink yes….but other colors no. The only time the sapphire leather jacket sold was when it went on sale. Frankly, I was very surprised the shantung jacket in the bright pink, lime and turquoise sold as well as it did, and the espresso and ivory are still avail…..go figure?
You know, I thought about that too. Guess what I came up with, the LENGTH! Most women will justify a purchase if it’s long enough to cover their backside, I think, because it multiplies the ways they can wear it, over leggings, a skimpy dress, shorts, etc. That’s my
Theory anyway imho. When I had to make a decision between the Sapphire Leather/knit jacket and the Sapphire Topper, I thought I’d get more wear out of the topper b/c it can be dressed up or more casual, and it COVERS the bum!!! LOL and it’s so stunning , chic and
Sporty!! I still want the ivory Shantung jacket!
The caftan dress, what a treat!
I love all of these looks. But, I particularly love the skirt with that glorious draping. Gorgeous!
First of all, Louis, I think it is worth noting that you were working with the color Olive long before many other American designers were. Yes, in Europe 30 years ago, the color was ubiquitous but it was not that popular in the U.S., unless you count Army fatigues (LOL). You were in the vanguard, as usual. These days on QVC, the color Olive is offered so often; so we have come a long way. You helped popularize the color pre-QVC and while on QVC.
I recall that after I began buying your Linea fashions on QVC in late 2010 or early 2011, I noticed the pattern of strong, jewel-tone colors one year and earth tones the next. In fact, I recall that I wrote about this on the Linea blog several times. Understanding this pattern of yours, it gave hope to those of us who had less to choose from during your earth tone seasons. We jewel-tone ladies would simply wait our turn for our flattering colors to be presented the next year. By the way, your deep olive has always worked for me (lots of brown in it, I think). Thank you.
LOVE the Olive Caftan Dress!
I love your neutrals and repeated colors !
Such great wardrobe builders !