How Green Was My Midriff

And crusty, too. No, I haven't fallen asleep in the dumpster behind the store. I'm working on a new gown. Supermodel Leah wants to shoot on a big black horse. How could she possibly do that without a to die for green under black chiffon and stretch silk gown with a beaded inset waist? I love green. Highly underrated. It's the relation to stomach upset, I think. "You're looking a bit green" sort of a thing. Like brown, it suffers from the intestinal relationship. Green, I'm looking to liberate you. Through tweeds. And a kooky paisley stretch knit lace. And a crusty beaded glistening midriff. All the other colors, they'll be green with envy.

Fractured Fairy Tales

Once upon a time, in a moderately sized town, a man with a camera, a woman with some clothes and...a guy with a giant Hersey kiss made from real hair and a lady with paints for faces got together and made some really cool pictures of some beautiful people. And they all lived happily ever after. Because everyone bit the apple. I'm very, very fortunate to work with some amazing people-Peter Baker behind the lens, Leslie Atiles on make-up, and Michael Burgess on hair-who don't bat an eye when "think of sculpture-like a big Calder on their head" is said. I clear my head when I run the trails behind my house, and had a Medieval fantasy of woodland nymphs and spirited female warriors running the rock walls. Since it was 98 degrees the day we shot, and I have an insatiable appetite for images, we did it all in studio, and it's the surreal dream I'd hoped for. Hope you like it, and see it all in person at the Fall show, September 4th at the Fairfield Theatre Company. Tickets go on sale today- www.fairfieldtheatre.org.

Baby, it's hot outside, and on the rack

Like Africa hot. Yet I have seen a half dozen people today pull on a coat with single minded determination. One that says "I must know what it's like to be with that coat". A friend asked me this weekend "So, Jen-what's new-what are you doing for fall". I didn't know what to say. I think because I didn't know where to begin, I don't know how I got here, and I'm sure that I'm not done yet. All I know is I wanted that "get with it now" reaction from whatever I made. I think for something to be successful design right now, you must be sucked in, it must serve a real purpose, and it can't cost a small fortune. That's a tall order. I forgot about the not making anyone look fat thing. So anyway, I started talking about texture. And using greens and blues, non traditional "fall" colors. And coats. And pants suits. And then I think I blacked out. Boooooooooorrrring-a-ding-ding. There's no "in" color, there's no absolute. There's the idea of something that's keeps you warm when it's cold, feels good when you touch it, when you pick it up off the hanger, and fits you like a glove.There's some dark clouds around.I'm looking to provide the undertow to make you forget,to beat the clouds away. Take a peek in the men's and women's sections, and see if you're distracted....

Color Blind

Now I know you're not supposed to mix politics and commerce, but there's a color issue that needs to be discussed. I'm talking Obama. And his shirts. They're white. Always white. Really, really white. Dark suit/white shirt. Every appearance, every photo op. Now I know there's a subliminal Kennedy thing going on here-slim suit/dark tie/white shirt. But we're a bit more enlightened now, aren't we? I don't see Michelle Obama running around in a pill box hat. But the 2-tone thing? People have a knee jerk reaction to this combo-it's uptight. As petty as it seems, I think a little more color needs to creep into the campaign trail. You want the blue collar vote? Lose the white collar.Perhaps an icy blue shirt on a hot summer day? It'll sneak up on people-they won't even know what happened, but they'll be drawn in. And I'm not talking chambray, roll up the sleeves and work the land, but just a little color. Maybe even a taupe suit in August? We are a sorry lot-as hard as we try, we judge a book by it's cover. Why did Hillary fall? Two words. Yellow Pantsuit. If any woman came into my store, and said "Hi, I'm running for the highest office in the country, and I need a yellow pantsuit", my first reaction would be to take a few steps back for safety, then direct her to one of the fine therapists in the neighborhood, because sister, you need help. But on the other hand, a little color, that's a good idea.

love is...

Depending on your situation, or your nano, love is all you need,a battlefield, like oxygen, or in my case, the cause of a large late spring workload. Because despite the odds,(I think it's now one in two fails)people still get hitched. People going to weddings, mothers of brides and grooms, brides, flower girls(I guess if you count First Communion, Brides of Christ-not sure on the odds there, though-think slightly higher)No matter, it's still an honor to be any part of what is a huge day in any person's life. But here's my idea-not exactly throw convention out the window, but why not get something with a longer shelf life-I'm talking get-ups here, not spouses. Why not a 3 piece wedding dress, so you can wear the pieces again for your anniversary, out to dinner, to another wedding. Why not a dress for your son's wedding you can wear to some one else's? Why not be the best dressed guest in a fabulous skirt and top you can split, and wear one with flip flops to the corner bistro? Now THAT'S love!

Present and Future, Learned from the Past

No, No, no,don't worry- I'm sober. But maybe too sober, like most of us these days. Bad news is everywhere. But so is bad design. I'm doing Fall, making Spring, and it's almost Summer. Frankly, with that schedule, I should drink. But with a wary eye to excess, I wonder what we'll all need come September. Will we need to escape? Will clothing be fantasy, disguised as reality? Or will we batten down the hatches to prepare for the bumpy night? I know, it's just a skirt, right? Well, not really. How you dress, how you look-it's a loaded gun. Are you too sexy for work? Are you too uptight for the party? Are you too mom-sy 24 hours a day? And does any of it make you look fat? By learning from my immediate past, as in this season, I can see you need to look like you can handle anything. Nothing too fragile. And when it does double duty-day into night, trans-seasonal, it's a keeper. But sometimes, when it's extra special, when it had never occurred to you that you might actually 'need' it, because you never knew it existed, but now that you've met, well......"Excuse me, Embroidered Plum and Black Velvet Coat-I couldn't help noticing you from across the room...Can I buy you?"

Can you please turn that up?I'm trying to think!

Okay, it's officially Spring. I know this, because I have bid goodbye to hose. But what am I doing? Well, between filling Spring orders, I'm designing fall 2008. It started a while ago, when I felt a little tingling inside that sent a Mad Max meets Elizabeth the Golden Age vibe through me. But not the trussed up Elizabeth- the scene where she's firing up her troops on the battle field, and her hair's down, and she's in armor. Except I'm thinking her armor may have some vinyl involved in my book. And I have my mental soundtrack on continuous play-it's the new Gutter Twins. Then my friend Douglas said he had a fog machine, if I should ever need one, for a show. Uh oh-I see trouble ahead. But I just went to see The Diving Bell and the Butterfly with a friend at her insistence, and as much as it's an arresting, amazingly life affirming movie(about death, of course, because that's when we need it the most, eh?)it was the use of Tom Waits' song "All the World is Green" that sent me reeling. Back in 1987, I heard his Swordfish Trombones for the first time, from a very unlikely source- a shop neighbor next door to mine in New Haven, and it changed my life. Until then, I had been remaking the past, and not thinking ahead. Because didn't thinking ahead mean spacesuits, pseudo mod get-ups, which I'd already redone again and again, and silly things, not real clothes? No, it meant going somewhere dark, and coming out with the bright light of something new, with an edge, but still completely wearable. Perhaps these are dark times, and I think what I do needs to wow you. I hope come Fall 2008 I've come up with "The Juice"(needs to be said with thick Aussie accent for impact)and you'll all be riding down the Post Road on your way to the shop in your crazy Road Warrior vehicles with heady anticipation. Just watch out for that kid with the boomerang.