Knee Deep and Lovin' It

There was a moment this week when my cutting floor was piled with things, and seven different ideas where floating in air and there was a hem to be done and 2 shirts for pick up, and I had to stop, inhale/exhale, and collect myself. Where is all this going? What am I trying to say with the clothes this season? Well, first off, it's not "Your strap is trying to escape from you giant puffy cake dress" and secondly, "Mamie Eisenhower called from the great beyond, and she wants her coat back". If I took a gorgeous, trim, strong woman and did those things to her, I'd have to shutter the store in 2 weeks. I think that's the difference in working with actual people, in the marriage of design and reality. I looked at all the fuller, beautiful organza skirts today and I had to check myself-Is Grace Kelly going to the Ting Tings? I think not. How many women will actually WANT that, AND be able to carry it? So maybe temper that with something that makes it work for more people. I've made some stunning raincoats this season. They look like cocktail dresses. They weigh 10 ounces. You could stand under a sprinkler in them, and look fine. I've been asked will I play it safe in this economy. Big fat NO. My motto-Give the People What They Didn't Know They Wanted". You get one chance, one glance, to hit people's soul. "Where did you get that?" "I love that!" I have the Branch Effect coat from this season, and it is no exaggeration that if I am in earshot of someone, they say "That coat looks great on you" Not just "That's a great coat" You're most likely not going to hear that about a black coat, in as much as you're not going to hear that about a coat that looks like a couch from a 1960's tea room. But it's my job to make you see that maybe that "perfect black raincoat" is really shot with pewter threads, or maybe it's not black at all-it's copper. Or gold. Or both. And no matter what, you will not leave me looking like we ate a few pizzas during the fitting. I can't tell you how many times a day I'll drape something on myself, then remove it and ask myself, "do I look thinner in that, or out of it?" And I'm thinking, I'm not a big girl, so let's ere on the side of caution. But maybe I'll make the middle with sheen, and the edges flat, so the hip dissipates into nothing..." But you don't see any of that. You see "Great skirt-and I look so thin!" That's my job when I do it well. And yours is just to sit back and enjoy yourself in all your fabulous glory.