Designer

………….. 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!

………………….My nephew Matty, my brother Mauro’s youngest child, and his girlfriend of many years, Michelle, came to spend the weekend with Uncle Lou………They arrived about 2pm…..The plan was to have some snacks first, and then go to the store “TERRAIN” in Westport Ct……We had a 6pm dinner reservation at “Casa Me”, a relatively new, extremely popular restaurant in Westport, which was near Terrain. I hadn’t been there yet, so I thought it would be a fun place for us to experience together…..When we got on the road, in the pouring rain. the traffic on the highway was horrendous….bumper to bumper. It took so long we decided to skip Terrain for the next day, and go straight to the restaurant…..We found a spot in a packed parking lot and went into the packed restaurant…[photo bottom left]……They had outside dining under an awning, and the tables were almost all full, but it was damp and we really didn’t want to sit outside…….Uncle Lou screwed up!…..I thought our reservation was for 6pm, but the hostess told me it was made for 5pm [she was correct], and they didn’t have anything until 9pm….3 hours later….I said thanks, but no thanks…..I knew another relatively new restaurant in Westport, so we went. I noticed through the window, as we pulled into the lot, that the host was a young woman….so I sent Matty in to see if there was a table avail? I figured when she saw this extremely handsome, 6’6″, hazel eyed young man with salt and pepper hair come in, she couldn’t turn him away! He came out with two thumbs up! She squeezed us in!….I was right…he charmed her even thought she was fully booked!….[photos top and bottom center, and top right]……The dinner was wonderful…..Sometimes lemons do turn into lemonade……I thanked the hostess profusely and gave her a nice tip!…….We all knew we had RASPBERRY CHEESECAKE waiting for us at home……We got into our pjs, and started to watch the new movie…..”TWISTERS”……half way though we paused it…..We all went to the kitchen….I whipped up some fresh whipped cream and cut pieces of the cake….upstairs we went…cheesecake in hand, and finished watching the movie………….Both the movie and the cheesecake were FABULOUS!….We all went to bed happy campers…..Tomorrow was another day!

…………………….Here is my finished RASPBERRY CHEESECAKE!……..I added a layer of the BONNE MAMAN PRESERVES on top and decorated it with fresh Raspberries…….I will also make some fresh WHIPPED CREAM to dollop on the side. I love the combination of the whipped cream and the raspberries!!!!