drink me, eat me, fit me

So a very tiny, very lovely woman came in today with her slightly less tiny daughter, and when I stepped into the dressing room, to fit her, and show her how a long dress can NOT overwhelm a littler person, it was like I was Um, Alice, after she eats too much of the 'makes you bigger cake' in Tim Burton's recent Alice in Wonderland. A giant person, in a world of smaller people. Now those of you who have met me know I'm not Um-like, and pretty much avoid cake, but do actually have questionable Mad Hatter hair. But the whole point of this is that if it fits, if it's made for you, you can wear a lot of stuff that otherwise seems off limits. Both she and her daughter were amazed how weightless the clothes were, how great they felt one,and how a little tweak here and a little nip there makes all the difference. The same goes for people with Um-like bodies. But none of it matters if the dress is a big yawn-it's got to wow you. Not every dress does for every person-me, I love all the stuff I make, but when the right dress meets the right person with the right fit-now THAT'S cause for a party involving more than tea.

That Fresh Feeling

Nine weeks until showtime-time to get crazy busy. Time to make the new ideas real, get the samples finished,fix what isn't right, and take a long look at everything I'm saying. I can't imagine what I'd do if I couldn't re imagine clothing twice a year. Not doing a collection, not rethinking everything, not coming up with something new-it would be a rather joyless existence. But so would sitting in a shop with nothing selling. There's nothing like that moment, when someone says-"Wow! I love that-it's just what I needed" when it didn't exist a few months ago.The relationships I have with 'the regulars', the people who know they can come to me, and get something fantastic, that easily works with their lives, but makes everything new, is a fabulous way to spend your day. But when someone who has never been in before stands there astonished saying "you made all this?"-that's the beginning of a beautiful relationship.