Designer

………………………Anne Klein was close to all the people that worked for her…..She appreciated every single one of them, and knew it took a TEAM to make her company successful. Anne was the nucleus of her company….Every thing revolved around her, and no decisions were made without her approval….even though she had partners. They all knew the success of the company was due to her vision, and hers alone….When I started working there I soon realized how loyal and loving the entire company had been to her. I knew I had to EARN their respect. I made it my business to meet and know everyone’s name, and not hide out in the design studio. I hung out with the sales people, the cutters, the fabric people, and of course my pattern makers and sewers….every single person….I even made friends with Andre, who cleaned the place. We all figured out that with all of the overtime he put in “cleaning” he was the highest paid employee….LOL……As time went by we all got to know and respect one another. That’s the way Anne always wanted it …..one big family…..and I knew it was important for me to continue these close and warm relationships……..One day I was in the back room hanging with my buddies…..the cutters….They were an awesome group of men, and Donna and I had them working nonstop. We literally made hundreds of samples a season, and they cut them all! They were having a lunch break, and I went to join them. They were truly a bunch of crazy guys, and always teased one another and had great stories….It was truly a family….the whole company was a family and most people worked there from day one. Some had even worked with Anne at a previous company she designed for…..When i left the company 20 years later, many of the same workers were still there….some had retired, but most were were still with the company….On this one occasion, as we were having lunch together, and joking around, one of the cutters came over to me…..I so wish I could remember his name. I see and hear him as clear as a bell. He was a tall lanky guy with a very dry sense of humor…….He handed me this framed dollar bill. At first I didn’t understand why he was handing it to me. Then he said to look at it closer. That’s when I noticed Anne Klein had signed it! He told me the story how she liked to place bets with the guys…..but for only a dollar! I don’t remember what the bet was for…..It could have been about anything….How long it would take him to cut 40 pairs of pants???? Silly things……He won this particular bet, and she gave him the framed and signed one dollar bill……By this point we had all become close……He said he wanted me to have it!!!!! I was flabbergasted for so many reasons. I knew this meant a lot to him, and now he was giving me this great memento…….It meant so much to me…..I realized I was now one of them…..I was now part of the Anne Klein family…..It hangs on the wall in my office……I cherish this dollar bill, and  what this present means to me…..These are simple little stories that would have disappeared with time, but have great meaning to only me……I’m very happy to share this rememberance.

……………….It was late November of 1973….Everyone was back from the triumphant Versailles show, and I had read about it in all the papers. Donna, who was one of my dearest friends, and who I met the summer after we graduated high school, and before we were to start going to Parsons School of Design together, called me and asked if I wanted to go to lunch! This was a rare occurrence as Donna was usually locked away in the inner sanctum of Anne Klein. We met at a local designer hangout for lunch [can’t remember the name…..it’s long gone].. I hadn’t seen Donna in a while, and was shocked to see how huge she was. She was well on her way to gaining 90 lbs due to her pregnancy!!!! We sat and talked and she told me stories about what went on at Versailles, and how horrible the male designers were towards Anne, the horrendous conditions, and how freezing cold it was. She also told me how rude and horrible the Americans were treated by the French…..as if they didn’t exist, as if they were a joke. The only designer she said who was treated well was Oscar, because he worked for two famous French designers before coming to America, and spoke French fluently. At the end of the lunch Donna  came to the point about why she wanted to meet with me……It seemed Anne had decided, after all her years in the business, [she was only 51, and her company was only 5 or 6 years old, but had been designing for years already], that she wanted to take a back seat and enjoy life with her husband. She didn’t have children. She said she wanted to travel, and the company was a 24/7 situation. Donna was so pregnant and her hormones were soring, and didn’t know how she was going to feel about working after the baby came. The one thing Anne and her partners knew was that Donna couldn’t run the designing by herself and needed a partner. They approached her and asked her who she would want to work with. Donna was relieved that with Anne taking a back seat all of the responsibility wouldn’t be on her. She immediately said, “Louis”….I was the one she wanted to work with. Anne and her husband Chip were very aware of who I was, and that I had been designing the Giorgini line on my own for 3 years. They agreed, and Donna met with me to see if I was interested in becoming her partner and co-designer. To work for Anne and the House of Anne Klein was a dream. Anne who opened the company in 1968, literally at that time had no competition. Calvin and Ralph were just starting and Ralph was only doing men’s wear at the time. I said yes…..but they still wanted to interview me. I really didn’t know Chip and briefly met Anne. A meeting was set up for the end of Nov. at their penthouse apt. on East 57th Street. This whole meeting was very hush hush, and no one was to know about it! When I went to the top floor penthouse apt with wrap around terraces, I was met at the door by Anne herself. She asked me in and told me to wait, as Chip would be conducting the interview……I thought this is strange….I would have thought that Anne would have had a million questions to ask me, but she left, and Chip came out and escorted me into a large sunken living room with French doors on three sides and a huge fireplace on the fourth wall. It was a beautiful sunlight room with nubby ivory wool couches. Chip and I talked for a little over an hour, and we said our goodbyes. He said I would be hearing from him. Days went by and I heard nothing…..not even from Donna. I started to think this wasn’t going to happen, and resigned myself to stay where I was, and where I was truly happy. I worked with great people who gave this young kid a big chance……..Just as I thought nothing was going to happen I got “the call”……Chip said the job was mine if I still wanted it….He said Donna was so happy to finally be able to work with me. This was something we always dreamed about when we were in Parsons together…..and now it was happening. There was one hitch…..I had a contract that didn’t end until June first. Chip said that was no problem, but if I could get out of it earlier that would be great. He made me promise that I was to tell no one where I was going……..I told my boss I would be leaving when my contract was up….He wasn’t happy especially when I told him I was unable to tell him where I was going. He guessed, but I did not confirm…He would not release me…..I went about my business speaking to Donna….mostly at night…….Then the disastrous news!!!! On March 14th, 1974 Anne Klein died!! I didn’t even know she was sick…..Anne surmised just before she left for the Versailles show that maybe her breast cancer had come back. It had been 4 years since she had it last, and she thought she beat it…..She didn’t want anything to spoil this trip to Versailles so she made the decision to wait, and see her doctor when she returned in a week. She learned it came back, and it came back with a vengeance…..There was nothing they could do, and they gave her a very bad prognosis. She had to protect her namesake company and devised a plan with her husband and two partners to get Donna the partner she would need. After all she was pregnant and they had no idea how she would feel once she knew the facts about Anne. They kept the true story from Donna, and told Donna the story about Anne wanting to take it easier, and who would she want to work with…….When I heard this horrific news I didn’t know what to think. I was so looking forward to working with Anne and Donna…..Did they still want me???? Three days after Anne’s death I got a call from Chip. He assured me nothing had changed in their wanting me to join the company, but under these new circumstances did I still want to come?…..I did…….Donna gave birth a short time after Anne’s passing….Now I understood why months earlier it was Chip who interviewed me and not Anne. How uncomfortable, awkward and sad it would have been for her to be interviewing someone that may be replacing her!…Chip invited me to the apartment one afternoon to sit shiva. It is a time when mourners gather for emotional healing. I went, but there were only a few people I knew. It was early in the day, and most people were coming in the evening………Chip asked me if I would accompany him to Anne’s office. it was located at the far side of the apt and it too had French doors leading onto the terrace. There was a large glass desk, and on the walls rows of glass shelves, There was a chair behind the desk and one in front of it. There was also a small couch covered in the same ivory nubby wool. I noticed that the shelves were filled with wonderful things Anne had collected….Things that I’m sure inspired her. Chip asked me to sit and he sat behind the desk. He told me how pleased he was with my choice to come to the company, and he promised me he would do all in his power to make me comfortable, and if ever I had a problem I was to go to him directly….Over the years I found him to be a man of his word. I was very sorry when he was forced out by the new Japanese ownership…..Donna and I loved Chip and we missed his sage advise….He was a father figure…….As we were sitting there at the glass desk he got up and went over to the shelves, and pulled down this copper lion and brought it to the desk. He told me it was Anne’s, and that he and Anne had a conversation about the fact that she and I were both Leos, which was the signature and brand of her company. I totally understood why Anne would love this crude artisan piece of sculpture….She was pleased that I was a Leo like her, and that a Leo would still be designing her company…..I found that very poignant….that a woman who knew what her faith was to be was thinking about me, a Leo, being in her company continuing her legacy. Her label had a lion and there were lions all around the office. Chip handed this copper lion to me and said, “I think Anne would have wanted you to have this.” I was speechless……..That was FIFTY YEARS ago, and I still get choked up whenever I see it and think of that day. It stands in a prominent place in my family room, and not a time goes by that I don’t look at it and remember.

……………….Jac was 17 years old when she was chosen to be one of the 40 models selected to do the fashion show in Versailles, which was to be called “The Battle of Versailles”. When she joined her first model agency they immediately sent her to Paris as the French designers were making their selection for their ready to wear shows…..The first designer she saw was Hubert De Givenchy. Her mom was waiting for her in a cafe across the street. She was told by her agency in Paris that she was booked! They then sent her to see everyone telling all of the companies that this “new American model” was already booked by Givenchy…She got 6 bookings which was unheard of for a new unknown untested 17 year old model. When she got back to NY the agency had already set up many appointments for her and she started to get lots of work…..At one booking she was sitting next to another model who asked her if she was going to Versailles?….You have to understand, Jac was very very young, and very intimidated and shy, and didn’t know any of the models who were not all very friendly in an extremely competitive business….so she basically stayed to herself which also made her seem aloof….She answered she didn’t know anything about it. The model looked at her aghast, and told her to call her agency to find out. Jac hesitantly made the call…..The head of the agency said to her, “you stupid girl…in order to get the booking for Versaiiles you have to get 3 votes from the 5 designers who were going…..you got 4!”…..So off she went to Paris with 39 other models, 5 designers and their individual staffs. Out of the 5 designers in the show Jac did 3 of the segments. Steven Burrows, who she had worked with wanted her, but she was already assigned to Anne Klein who she also worked for, and who was first in the show. Then Steven was second and Bill Blass who was 3rd in the line up….so she couldn’t make the change to be in Steven’s segment in between AK and Blass….She did Anne Klein, Bill Blass and Oscar de la Renta who was the last to show. Jac had never worked for Oscar, but did work for Bill. When they got back to NY Oscar wanted to book Jac for his shows. He loved her in his segment twirling in a long white chiffon dress. She was so happy she told Bill. Bill told her she had to choose either Oscar or him. She was shocked at Bill’s response. but she was loyal to Bill who had been giving her lots of work….so she chose Bill, and never did an Oscar show….Back in Paris the model’s hotel accommodations were not good, but they spent most of the day at Versailles which was even worse!. The show was the brain child of Eleanor Lambert to raise money to bring Versailles back from its’ horrible condition. It was November of 1973, and Jac told me the palace was freezing cold. The models were wearing their coats to keep warm. There were few bathrooms set up and a lack of toilet paper! Plus no food. Chip Rubenstein, Anne Klein’s husband and business partner, made sure food was brought in for the models to eat. The French rehearsed all day, and the Americans were relegated to rehearse AT NIGHT!!! When the American sets were brought in they didn’t fit because the measurements were done in inches not centimeters….they were thrown out….Kay Thompson, an American musical actress know for the movie “Funny Face”, and also known for giving Judy Garland some of her signature stage moves. She was hired to produce the show which ended up being worse than a nightmare!!! The in fighting and bickering reached a fever pitch! She had 5 segments for each designer had little rehearsal time. There were no sets and 5 designers who were always arguing. Halston threw a fit after a huge argument with Kay and walked out. Kay walked out too. From what I understand Liza Minelli who just won her Oscar for “Cabaret”, and was also the goddaughter of Kay, saved the day, She was close to Halston and smooth the waters. She also gave all of the models a rousing speech! Liza was to open the show with a stage full of American models in trench coats, singing “BONJOUR PARIS”…….Jac spent most of the time hiding and keeping out of everyone’s way. It was all too much for her. The designers were horrible to one another and none of them thought Anne Klein, a lowly sportswear designer, should have bene there, and they let there feeling be known……..At one point Jac was alone in one of the Versailles rooms having a cigarette. She said the place was filthy, but was happy to be away from the madness. At one point two men walked into the room, and saw her smoking. She thought she was going to be admonished for smoking…..instead they came over to her and asked if she had a light for their cigarettes which she did. She noted one was extremely handsome. They walked away and started chatting in French, and she left the room. There was very little rehearsal, but Kay, being smart and taking the bull by the horns, kept things simple……giving certain models certain things to do to make each segment special…….For example…..Billie Blair played the part of a magician for the Halston segment. The empty stage was dark with one spotlight on Billie’s raised arm and hand. She started to pull colored chiffon scarves out of her hand like a magician, and with each new color scarf a model would come out in that color dress. She then led this line of models  like the pied piper, snaking around the stage, each model showing her beautiful long dress….it was simple but amazing………..The French opened first and their show was over 2 HOURS LONG!!!!!!! It was over produced with over elaborate sets that obscured the models…..It was a great BORE!!!. When they were done….The stage was cleared and left bare. Anne Klein started the show with the Black models in African inspired clothing….very bare with lots of skin gyrating to an African beat…..The audience was shocked, because it was so free…..so fabulous, and they had never seen models move in such a seductive way! It was not what they expected American sportswear to be….. Then came Steven Borrows with his brightly colored jersey and lettuce hemmed clothes. Something totally new to the French. The black models were magnificent, and danced and swayed across the stage like nothing the French could imagine. Next….Bill Blass……Jac came out with a fox trimmed long skirt and blouse. She wore a huge hat and a veil, and carried a walking stick. She came onto the dark stage with another model Carol Brant, Jac left Carol standing there and walked to the front of the stage in a very haughty manor….looked at the audience with distain and left as the rest of the models in the Blass segment came out. His theme was Deauville and the roaring twenties. Then the Halston’s segment with Billie as the magician, and then Oscar’s which Jac was in [second photo in from the bottom left] wearing white chiffon. Jac had told me there was a huge fight about who would end the show, and where each designer would be placed in what order, but she didn’t know how it was finally decided………As she was waiting in the wings for her first Anne Klein entrance…..the French were finishing their two hour plus boring show. Out of the wings on the opposite side of the stage comes a magnificent male ballet dancer……She recognized him immediately as the young handsome man who asked her to light his cigarette………It was Rudolf Nureyev….She had no idea who he was until that moment when one of the models told her…..She was in love!……..The American show with 5 designers took a little over 30 minutes! It was a triumph. The mostly French audience stood yelling Bravo as the stage filled will all of the American models. The golden pamphlets were thrown in the air like confetti…..it was unanimous, to the embarrassment of the French….THE AMERICANS WON THE BATTLE OF VERSAILLES. Every paper around the world reported the magnificence of the American show….It changed the way the world looked at American Fashion…..and American Fashion sored….Anne Klein and her husband offered all of the models an extra day in Paris at their expense if they wanted to take in the sights. Some stayed, but many were exhausted. Jac declined their offer. She wanted to get home……Nobody knew except a very few that this was Anne Klein’s last triumph…..and she knew it. She pulled out all of the stops for her segment and wanted to show the world that American sportwear could hold its’ own against anyone. She showed sexy wearable clothes that had not been seen before, and she came out on TOP…….This was the end of November of 1973…..by March of 1974 she would be dead from breast cancer. The fashion world was in shock…….Anne and her partners, knowing her cancer was now fatal, decided to hire me to work along side of Donna who was pregnant, and who also didn’t know until after the show at Versailles how sick Anne was…..Versailles was a triumph for the Americans that is still talked about today……but it was also Anne’s individual triumph………RIP

……………………This picture was taken in the 70s. It must have been for some publication or newspaper, but I don’t have any information. In the photo are Donna, myself and the model Iman. It seems we are throwing bolts of fabrics on her I’m guessing to look at the colors together. I can say now with a laugh that it looks like a big mess to me…..but as I always say….you have to play play play before you come up with something……which I’m sure we did!

…………………On one of my Facebook posts I posted a picture of Jac and myself at a family picnic. A model that we used to work with at Anne Klein in the 70s, Carol Brandt, answered me and expressed her condolences about Jac’s passing 5 years ago. I mentioned that I had a picture of her and Jac from the Versailles show in Paris, and she said she’d love to see it. This was a picture from the rehearsal [chairs in background]. The actual photo from the show is the small top center photo, but unfortunately you can’t see Carol’s face…….Carol and Jac opened the Bill Blass segment in the show before the other models followed out. The theme of his presentation was the 20s………The photo at the upper right shows Jac twirling in the Oscar De La Renta segment. It was unanimous that the Americans won the night showing up all of the French designers. The year was 1973……and the show was titled “The Battle of Versailles”. If you google it there are many pictures of the event and a documentary of what happened. jac had many stories….She was 17!