Designer

…………………The older you get….the more important this becomes.

……………………For me, PANSY planting day is the official start of Spring! Franco and I went early this morning to the nursery “Sam Bridges”, in Greenwich Ct to buy trays of pansies…….Every year I say I’m going to plant less pots!…..but…..the pansies were SOOOOO beautiful I couldn’t resist…..So much for planting less!!!! I’m a real sucker for pansies, and of course they were Jac’s favorites…….so how could I plant less…..no way.

………………………Sunday, March 26th, will be my nephew and Godson Christopher’s 50th Birthday!…….The years go by so fast. It seems only yesterday I was helping him find Easter eggs that his parents hid throughout the garden, and Jac taking him for an ice cream cone, and days at the beach….Oh, sometimes I just want to stop and rewind!…….Happy Birthday my dear Chris…..and many many more!

………………Yasmeen Ghauri was the epitome of a SUPER MODEL !!!! During her time on the cat walk there were many incredible models….Linda, Christy, Naomi, Helena, Carla, Tatiana, Cindy, Claudia and Karen to name a few. It was an incredible time of gorgeous women……Yasmeen stood out with her exotic looks, her incredible body and her SIGNATURE WALK! I loved working with her because she was so professional. She gave 100%, and I was never ever disappointed. The photos are just a few of the many pictures she did for me for a Spring campaign by Steven Meisel……In 1998 she retired at the height of her career to marry and raise a family……She’s now 51…….Who knows….maybe we’ll see her again…..I sure hope so.

………………..The year was 1976…..”A CHORUS LINE” opened on Broadway along with a Stephen Sondheim show named “PACIFIC OVERTURES”…..It was a banner year for Broadway!….For some reason designers individually  decided to take their shows out of the showrooms and venture out into other venues Restaurants, nightclubs and theaters were being booked by designers to show their collections…..A model we were using, who came to us from California, new people at the Shubert organization, and we were able to book the WINTER GARDEN THEATER for our show……I could write a book on this alone. There were so many different stories and intrigues that went on. Using the theater with a show that was currently playing  brought us many many complications. Firstly, unions were involved! OH BOY!!! Secondly we had to use the two stage managers to run our show!!! Donna and I had to give them total control over the production of the show since we were not allowed, nor did we know the first thing about doing a show in a Broadway theater! We couldn’t rehearse in the theater at all so we used an empty floor in our building at 205 West 39th Street to rehearse. The models were brought in in groups depending on what “scene” they were in the show. This was all preplanned by the two fellows who ran it……. I wish I could remember their names, because they were incredible……I will call them “the guys”…. At first they wanted us to use show girls!!!!, but show girls are not MODELS. They just don’t move the same way. They are very theatrical, and frankly not nearly as beautiful……That we said absolutely NO to. We booked 26 to 30 models to do the show….I don’t remember the exact number….. Little did we know that “the guys” were planning on having at least 10 to 12 models on the stage at once….How were they going to make the changes. The whole process was a nightmare….The groups of models would be coming in to rehearse when the guys were free from their theater duties. They promised that everything would be Okay. They would have enough dressers to take care of the models back stage…..The rehearsals went on and on…Donna and I had no idea what was happening, and sometimes I don’t know if the models did either!!!…The day of the show was a Monday when the theater was “dark”. Everything was set up backstage. “The guys” had worked it out that we would be using props from the actual show like a huge tree on stage, and stage hands were at the ready to do what ever was necessary. They were being paid anyway due to union regulations. The rehearsal was a disaster!!!!!!!!!The models weren’t making their changes and they were coming out onto the stage still dressing themselves!!!! Donna and I were freaking out as we were sitting in the orchestra watching this debacle. “The guys” told us a bad rehearsal meant a great show! Theater folklore!! “The guys” selected all of the music and each segment was like a little show in it’s self…….This was so far removed from anything Donna or I could have ever conceived of that we felt totally helpless, and had to trust “the guys” 1000%……The models were frantic! The guys called a meeting on the stage before the show with everyone involves….Models, dressers, lighting and music people, the people responsible for cueing and the DANCERS!!! Yes there were even some dancers involved……They gave a speech to calm nerves, and gave a pep talk…….The fall 1976 shows had started the week before and ours on the Monday was one of the last to be presented. Designers had already been racked over the coals by the press for dragging the media, the buyers the magazine editors all over town to see their shows. We were APOPLECTIC, and so fearful that this was going to be a disaster. At this point we had no idea what this show was going to look like, and there was no time to have a second dress rehearsal….We just had to leave it in the hands of “the guys” the models and everyone else who was working on the show. Donna and I were not allowed to be backstage! so we decided we would hide in the highest tier of the highest balcony and watch from there…….. The theater started to fill up….it was packed!!! Frank Mori, the president of the company stayed with us in the balcony for moral support…….The lights dimmed….the theater was dark….then Kabuki music started to play softly, and it got louder and louder…..the from the left a spotlight hit the wings and a LION DANCER came out and up onto a small Hanamichi stage that started in the wings and went diagonally right onto the stage. This side stage is often used in Japanese Kabuki theater, but with all of the turmoil we never even noticed it…….The Lion Dancer came onto the stage did his dramatic little dance and went to the far end of the stage and started to pull the curtain back revealing 12 models on the stage!!!!! It was simply spectacular. This was not done in the rehearsal! It was something “the guys” had planned with the dancers to open the show….The audience went WILD and the applause was deafening! Each segment went off perfectly! For the final scene huge golden screens came floating across the stage over lapping one another…..then Frank Sinatra started singing “Come dance with me”, and a model came out from behind each of the screens at the same time in long evening gowns and stood in front of them…..pealing off one by one until the last model and the last screen was gone…..Then the music changed to Ravel’s Bolero…..softly at first and building to a crescendo as models in gold and combinations of gold and black and gold and red came out one by one filling the stage……..It was a spectacle!!!!! The show ended with the entire stage filled with all of the models…..the music stopped….the models stood there……then SILENCE!!!! Donna and I looked at each other in horror!!!! They hated it….it was a massive failure!!!….Then the audience got up to massive applause and BRAVOS!!!! It was a standing ovation! We were way up in the balcony and Frank said you two have got to get down there and get up on that stage…..we flew……we made it to the Hanamichi and went onto the stage……the audience was still applauding and yelling! we could not have been happier and grateful to “THE GUYS” for pulling this magnificent show off….The applause went on and on….everyone on stage was hugging and crying!!!! It was a major release of tension for everyone….The photo was taken after the show in the front lobby of the Winter Garden Theater. It is of Donna and myself, and from left to right out dearest friends….Maurice Antaya…..Richard Assatly…..Frank Masandrea…..,and Patti Capelli…..The look on our faces is pure joy and pure relief…..The show was a huge success and was talked about for weeks after. The reviews were astonishing, and the show was compared to “A Chorus Line”…………..My only regret was that a video wasn’t done of the show. Because of the unions the theater wanted an astronomical amount of money for us to do a video, so the company said no…..If they had only known what a success the show was going to be they probably would have had one made…..This story is just the surface of what took place during the weeks leading up to the show……..As I said…..I could write a book on this show alone.