Who, who is it?

Who has clothes made? It's a question I get asked a lot-who is my customer? Is she a shop-a-holic? A fashionista? Uh, no-that's a bad movie plot. Brace yourself... She's...she's..a librarian. She's a mother of four. She's the mother of the mother of four, making her a grandmother of 7, and her youngest son is getting married. She's a doctor. She's a lawyer. She's every woman, except Chauka Chan. But that's only because she hasn't met me yet. More and more I ask myself, in tough times, who is my client-and I answer it on the runway. As I come back to the workroom at 10:30 on a Friday night, I'm hoping she has more of a life than me, but I know she doesn't. She's juggling, she/he's balancing, but hopefully excited about what they do. I wrote orders this week because I've been thinking. A lot. This season, I'm thinking you're sick of the cold, and the gray and the dreary, and when I saw the fashion week pages and pages and pages of gray clothes for fall 09, I'm think "I do NOT want that" and I LOVE gray. Love it. But it all looks like a pile of sadness. And we so, so don't need that now. We need useful joy. A glass of wine, a fabulous song, a great read, some kind words, a beautiful..raincoat..? YES, because it's raining cats and dogs in the world. And a knockout evening dress. And a killer suit. I hear you, but maybe I filter is through my slightly askew brain, and I come up with something you didn't know you wanted, but there it is, and it speaks to you, and it fits you PERFECTLY. It's so you...because I've been thinking about you.