Designer

…………For the Easter Holiday in 1977, I went to visit my parents in Florida for a long weekend. My older brother Mauro, my SIL Kathy and their three children, John, Christopher and Jeannine [in the stroller], also came to spend a week with my parents. Kathy was pregnant with my nephew Mathew. The proud grandpa is in the middle. I can’t figure out what my father is wearing??? Does he have something on with long black sleeves under his shirt or is it just the photo??? I was 29…..still smoking, with a head full of hair, and thin…..That July I was turning 30 and was to have a big surprise birthday party at Studio 54……Those were the days!

…………..The beginning of the road……We often ask ourselves as we move through life….”where have all the years gone?” It’s been many many years since this picture was taken, and I’m grateful that pictures like this exist to help me remember parts of my life that I would never have thought about…..that have escaped me….This is a picture of Donna and myself after one of our early shows taking our bows. It must have been in the mid 70s, and we were in our mid 20s. In those days shows weren’t the elaborate affairs they were in the 80s, and we did them in the show room as everyone else did. This was the old Anne Klein showroom with the white stucco walls that Anne Klein designed and had built. It was on the third floor, and part of the entire floor that housed the AK business at 205 West 39th Street. We had four floors in that building. The model in the back is Betty Gill. A raven haired beauty with ice blue eyes. She was our “House Model” and we fit the collection on her. She worked for us every day. A model named Peggy Butler was our regular fitting model, but she worked for other designers too, so Betty was always there for us to fit on if we needed her……..She was a sweet heart. I have wondered over the years what happened to her……As you can see I was a smoker then….we both were. It took many years before I was able to break that horrible habit………Those were the GOLDEN DAYS of SPORTSWEAR……and we were the “New Kids on the block”….as Bill Cunningham used to call us……….It amazes me how times have changed….how the business of fashion has changed….how the world has changed…………….unfortunately not for the better…….I am glad I lived during those glory days.

………………..The second print I was developing to go along with the “LEMON” group was my Orange print group….it to had a tee shirt the tiered skirt and Capri pant, but I also made a cotton short blazer, and a tank tiered peasant dress to choose from……Unfortunately, I don’t have any of those samples.

……………………GOOD NEWS!!!!! This HOOP reorder….J407814…..is back in stock on the Linea QVC Jewelry site in ALL COLORS……..GOLD……SILVER……ROSE GOLD………made in Italy! I know, from inquires, that many of you have been hoping they would be back…..and they literally were just posted yesterday…..Not only are they PERFECT….for you, but anyone you may want to get a present for…………The reviews of this super light hoop are all stellar…..FIVE STAR!

……………..Some of you may know that for my last [didn’t know that at the time] spring Linea collection I was planning to do a lemon print group. Many ask where did the inspiration come from…..This time the answer was simple…..Chantal, her husband Mike and their two teenage children were going to Italy on vacation. I gave Chantal Linea summer samples to bring plus lots of accessories [all of the Roman coin jewelry]. I knew that in Venice, Rome and Positano women dressed, not formally, but in beautiful resort clothes, and Chantal would need them. When she returned she brought me presents with a lemon theme…..soaps…and a place mat were two of them……Then I remembered on one of the trips Jac and I took to Positano she bought her mother a short sleeve cotton tee shirt with a botanical print of lemons on it [above]. Did I still have it? I did! An idea was born. I had the place mat print reproduced with some changes. I enlarged it and had the names changed to towns I had visited along the Amalfi coast. Then I had the tee shirt print reproduced. I designed a two tiered pull-on short skirt in a very light weight cotton with stretch and lined the skirt in a very light cotton batiste so it was light and cool. I also designed a pair of zip front Capri pants in the same cotton…..The tee went with both bottoms, or everything could be worn on its’ own…..The samples were made and I have them, but alas QVC dropped the line and never bought the Lemon pieces…….Later on in the year it surprised me to see lemon prints and themes popping up on several lines????!!!!! Had they all gone to Positano? LOL….The next time Chantal goes to Italy she can borrow them!