Designer

………..When I hear a singer who I think is someone you should hear I post them………FERNANDO DANIEL sang on “The Voice, Portugal”……I love how YouTube gives us the opportunity to see and HEAR these talented people from all over the world, who otherwise we would have never known about. Fernando Daniel earned a four chair turn, and rightly so…..His rendition of Adele’s “When We Were Young” was so emotional he had some of the judges in tears. I thought he was incredible, and worth bringing to your attention……It’s a fabulous song that I hadn’t heard before this, but he gave Adele as the saying goes “a run for her money”…..I think you will really enjoy listening to this young man’s voice, and his interpretation of this song.

……………….Cranberry sauce isn’t just for THANKGIVING!…………I love Cranberry sauce with so many things including chicken and SCRAMBLED EGGS!!!……..It is so easy to make there really isn’t any reason to buy the canned jelly…..unless you like it!?…….I put 3/4 of a cup of sugar and one cup of fresh orange juice in a sauce pan and let it come to a boil constantly stirring. Once it comes to a boil I lower the heat to a simmer. I get a bag of whole cranberries, frozen will work, and I wash them in a strainer, and pick off any stems.  I add a stick of cinnamon, a pinch of salt and a peal or two from the orange, and then add the cranberries to the orange juice and sugar…….Bring to a simmer and STIRR…….When the cranberries start to pop keep stirring. When they are mostly popped, leave a few whole, turn the heat off and let it sit for about 30 minutes. Then move to the container you want to serve in. I use a Simon Pierce sauce bowl, and refrigerate…..Give it at least 40 minutes before serving…..YUM!…..Always best the next day!

…………………Angela, standing next to Jac, recently sent this picture to me……and it brought back wonderful memories……..During my 50 plus years designing clothes I have worked with many many models, but none were as wonderful as my CABINE at QVC……….Angela, Chantal, Brenda, Kate and Maria [not in the picture] were my absolute favorites to work with and show my clothes. There were other models that I used and also loved, but this was my group!…. My shows weren’t the easiest to do, because I was very demanding about the way I wanted them to look. Every outfit was completely accessorized from head to toe. It was a lot more work than any other show, and considering they only had 4 to 5 minutes on average to get totally undressed and dressed again that was no small feat……They were always totally professional and never complained……They new when they came out for their individual sells that were going to look good…….I thank them all for not only being great models……..but good friends to Jac and myself……..much LOVE to all of them…..Louis

……………………..It’s hard to believe this picture was taken one year shy of…….FIFTY YEARS AGO!!!!!!………It was taken in the Anne Klein showroom of Donna and myself….for what I don’t remember? It was a time of mixed emotions…..Donna and I had known each other since our senior year in high school…..We were BFF in Parsons School of Design, and then as faith would have it we worked together for ten years at Anne Klein before Donna went on her own, and developed a powerhouse brand…….I continued at Anne Klein for another 10 years on my own, and built the company from a $250,000 company to a $1,000,ooo company before I left……We the photo we were showing our last collection……Spring 1974…….We were sort of in limbo not knowing what was ahead of us…..We were attached at the hip for so long from such a young age that separating was terrifying, and yet exciting….This was the end of the road for us, and the beginning of a new one………..As the saying goes……………..NEXT!

……………….For my 40th Birthday Jac planned a somewhat surprise! I knew something was going on because there was a lot of action behind closed doors at my office….Jac was having her meetings with Connie Francis, my right arm assistant, and Mark Bower, one of my design assistants…..Mark made the invitation at the upper left….Inside it said “You are invited to Captain Lou’s 40th Birthday Party”, and gave all the details…….I knew my BIG 40th was coming up, and Jac was planning something, but what it was I had no idea!…..That particular July we had a spell of rainy thunderstorms one after the other!……..On the day of my party, Jac all dressed in her nautical best, took me to a restaurant on the East River near 30th Street……”The River Club” which was owned by a friend of ours…..but it was a decoy……We walked right passed the restaurant to a waiting three story boat filled with my friends and family!…..Was I surprised….you bet!…….The picture, at the upper left shows Jac and I looking up at the clouds rolling in……On the main deck were round tables with chairs, and white table cloths with lovely flowers on each table…..It looked beautiful, and I knew Jac left no stone unturned…..Just as we were pulling away from the dock a gust of wind came up and knocked over every vase with flowers!….OHOH was this a harbinger of things to come!??….My brother Mauro made me a wonderful tape of my life from when I was born to my most recent photos, movies and videos he and my dad had taken through the years….It was fabulous!….Connie had arranged a TV to be set up on the deck on a stand, with the video player underneath…..When the boat made a turn around the Statue of Liberty the stand went rolling and the TV went OVERBOARD!…..but my tape was SAFE on the lower shelf!!!….I knew we were in for a bumpy ride……The planned trip was down the East River, around the Statue of Liberty, and up the Hudson River past the George Washington Bridge……..that was the plan…..Then it started RAINING, and we all started DRINKING!!!! Thank God it was a warm evening in July, and after a point we all said screw it, and we were all standing in the rain drinking, and soaked to the skin….but very happy!!!….I know at some point we did eat…A large array of food was set up indoors on the second deck…..My mother , father, Jac’s mom and sister sat in the large cabin for the whole trip! Everyone else was all over the ship drinking, laughing, and getting very wet……At the top photo next to me and my balloon is a photo of my Brother Mauro his wife Kathy, my SIL Carol and my brother John. They are still dry so it must have been an early photo…LOL… Just below me and my balloon is a photo of me with Ellen Harth who ran the ELITE Modeling Agency, which Jac belonged to….Next to that is a picture of Richard Assatly, Ed Diamond and Leo Narducci….good good friends. I’m in the background looking as if I feel no pain! Richard and Ed are no longer with us, but Leo is 90 something!…Below the picture of Ellen is me with Donna, drinking away….Her 40th would be coming soon……At the far left, under the invitation, is Joe Stafiniak, my showroom manager and friend, and Hannah Khoury, my fabric developer and buyer, and dear friend. We all at AK were one big family…..Next to us is me and my dear friend and AK sales person Ralph Perillo….We both look very wet and very drunk, and very happy. The three young women are my assistants at AK……Then the storm got really bad with lightning and thunder. I remember Stephen Weiss, Donna’s husband, got very excited, because he was on an upper deck and saw lightning hit the Empire State Building! He though that was so cool……However, as we approached the GW Bridge the water got very rough, and the captain thought it was time to turn the boat around and head back to base. We were all pretty drunk and unruly, and the captain was fearful someone might get hurt or fall overboard!……We all gathered in the cabin, and it was time for me to open presents!. Jac and Connie organized the opening of the presents…..It was 35 years ago!!! so I don’t recall what I got, but I still have the gold cufflink set from Cartier that Frank Mori, the president of Anne Klein gave me. I don’t think I had ever seen Frank drunker or wetter! All in all there were about 50 people on the boat, and everyone had a great time…..They are still talking about it all these years later!…..Jac pulled off a fabulous, and memorable party for me, and it was the best party I ever had!