Designer

………………HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY to the best Mom in the world!!!!!! My Mom taught me so many many things starting with the basics…..being polite, cleanliness, having good manors [no elbows on the table and a napkin in the lap]…….Being a good thoughtful considerate person was very important to her. She helped me with my school work, and she taught me how to drive……She realized from an early age that I had a talent in art, and did what she could to nurture it….I had the best collection of coloring books and crayons….the box of 64!….She bought me my Jon Gnagy learn to draw DELUXE set!! I used to watch him on TV all the time….She always supported me in what ever I wanted to do. When I told my parents I wanted to go to design school she made sure my Dad was on board….Her sense of style was always an inspiration to me….. She also taught me my love of gardening, but mostly flowers. Her favorite flowers were ZINNIAS, which quickly became mine too. Where ever there was an empty patch of dirt my Mom would plant her Zinnia seeds……The house was always filled with vases of Zinnias…..In the fall we would cut all of the dying flowers off, and let them dry in a paper bag…….then we would pull all of the dried petals out and pinch off the dark seeds at the base…….My Mom could never have enough seeds!…..In the early spring we would get the beds ready to plant……Out came the bags of seeds that had been safely stored away, and we would  kneel and plant each seed one  by one…..hundreds of seeds. She would start at one end of a bed, and I would start at the other until we met in the middle…..Every bed around the house had Zinnias. My Mother was the Queen of Zinnias! We had the most colorful flower beds well into the fall….Without her knowing it she taught me about the beauty of color….Her love for me was unconditional…..and I knew it….I was her baby…..a Momma’s boy……When my Mom passed at the age of 95….it was the first time I knew what deep grief was…..I was heart broken……I think about her everyday……There are no words to express my love for my Mom…..she was the most important thing to me. She was the most caring and loving Mom in the world……The ABSOLUTE BEST!

……………With Mother’s Day this coming Sunday I was feeling a little nostalgic…..This picture was taken soon after my parents marriage…….It says 1938 on the photo, Florida, but I’m not sure if it was taken in Florida or the country in the north east? It says Florida, but it doesn’t look like Florida to me….I have to say they were a beautiful young couple!!! My DAD!!! in his white shirt, white pleated trousers and white shoes with his low buttoned cardigan could have been right out of a men’s fashion magazine…He had great taste….and that HAIR! That’s exactly where I got my hair from, and that’s exactly how they combed my hair!. He was quite handsome…….Now my Mother was something else! You have to imagine my Mother was a REDHEAD! My dad used to call her “Red”…..or so I was told. When I was born it was already grey!…She told me it turned prematurely grey soon after I was born….I always thought it somehow was my fault?!…..I love her summery shirt dress with the panel pleated front, her clutch bag, and her two tone spectator ankle strap sandals…….They always had great style!….They were married over 70 years!………..They were quite the couple!!

………….Thinking about Mom………The year was 1927, the place Brooklyn……A Sunday stroll……Mom was born in 1910 so that would make her 17 years old……..This was not the Brooklyn we know today. From NYC it was like moving to the country!! My Mom is on the right and Sadie is on the left…..I don’t know who owned the German Shepard dogs,  but they look ferocious. I love the old cars on the unpaved boulevards, and the young trees lining them…..Cloche hats and chemise dresses were the fashions of the times!……….Things were simpler then, but the world,  and their worlds were about to change!

…………………A Sunday dinner in Settignano, Italy……..Since 1971 I have gone to Florence, Italy to develop sweaters for the three companies I worked for….Giorgini, Anne Klein and Dei Tre of Bergdorf Goodman….I worked with Giovanna Ciampini. Their offices were in an ancient building on the Piazza Santa Trinita…..There was a huge obelisk in front of their building…Armani, Ferragamo, and Gucci were on the same street…..It did have a very small elevator that was added many years later…..It only fit two people [three could squeeze in], but you took it at your own risk. It was known to get stuck!…..On Sundays I was invited to Marcello and Giovanna’s home in the hills of Settignano…They lived there with Giovanna’s parents, Gina and Enzo until they passed away….It had been Giovanna’s father’s home…..The view of Florence below was breath taking! Giovanna had one son at the time we met, Leonardo who was still an infant. Later another son, Lorenzo was to come. In the photo is Marcello with his two sons, and me at their front driveway gate. Their house is in the background. Sunday dinner was a major meal, always followed by two or three deserts…..We had plenty of red wine to wash it all down! They had olive orchards, lemon trees, and grapes on the hills in front of their villa……Their caretaker used to make fresh olive oil, Limoncello, and red wine every season, and Giovanna always gave me some to take home! After the enormous meal we all went for a walk in the country side……For 25 years I had dinners at Giovanna and Marcello’s home, until I stopped working for Bergdorf Goodman and started working for QVC. Unfortunately, the prices of sweaters from Italy were too high for QVC, and I no longer could work with Giovanna…..The boys are now married, and Leonardo has a daughter! ……Time marches on…….Marcello and Giovanna still live in their beautiful home in Settignano. We e-mail all the time………..She calls me Luigino………One day I will make the trip back to see my dear friends…..More than friends……….FAMILY!

………………………..This may not be something you think about often….but….the older you get the more you realize how many people have come into your life. Some were important to you…and some not as much……and many are gone for one reason or another……some are just footnotes…but many have become chapters……….I have so many chapters to my life.