I'm fat, and I just want to have the baby

I have never gone quite full term with a pregnancy, but I think this is how it feels. Months of work and anticipation, and then you just want it out. When the baby comes, I will love the baby, but I want to see the baby, not be working until 3 am squeezing it all in. Fall has been in the cooker for months and months, and now , on this 80 something degree night, it will be unveiled. See you there, at FTC-come have a preshow drink and some great food, then sit down and enjoy. Doors at 7, Models hit the stage about 7:45.

Countdown

Six days to showtime, and we're buzzing here, dotting the I's, crossing the T's and stitching the hems from the last fittings. I'm loving all the sleek but fluid skirts,the knits, the cool new evening pants called "More Cow Bell", and a fabulous cascading chiffon shawl, name yet unknown, that will come in 96 colors(!)So many people have been popping into the shop for the first time these past weeks, telling me they'd been meaning to for months and months-and walking out with sale pieces and excitement for the show. I'll be laboring heavy on Labor Day, but if you happen by, and the door's open, c'mon in.

Am I Blue?

Yes. 6 shades of it. With green-4 shades. And a shot of yellow. Just finished a winter version of one of my favorite skirts, Velvet Underpass. It rocks. It's beautiful, too. So, so right. On a black ground. I can see so many people wearing it-it's much easier to pop on than the white Spring version, which was gorgeous, but required commitment. This version-it's an invitation to a good time. Come see it make it's debut in 11 days at FTC.

13 days

Until showtime.And I just cannot wait to see it walk the walk. Feedback from people has been beyond positive. But I heard something very interesting today. That following the financial mood of the world, a lot of designers have taken the season into darkness. Black, grey, and brown is your highlight colour. This is like giving a bottle of pills to manic depressive and telling them, "Just go on, finish it, will you?". If I'm bummin' big time, granted, I will not be putting on a red party dress and hitting the town. But will I shroud myself and wait for the rapture? No. But I think if I put on "Branching Out", one of the coolest coats I've ever made, I'll perk up, feel strong, and take on the day with a "You can't beat me down, buddy- Excuse me while I step around your stale air" mode. come check it out at the Fairfield Theatre Company on September 4th.

I'm gonna knock your jeans off

That's right. Clear out of the park. I have been workin' with a capital K. wor-Kin. And do I have skirts for you. A-line, easy, slim, tight as a drum. A drum with a lycra bounce beat, that is. High-waisted,flatteringly low slung (not an oxymoron, I swear) lots of great throw it on and go, but look fabulous skirts. I just got goose bumps over one yesterday- a deep green Donegal tweed with this huge silver buckle I came across in the city. Except calling it a buckle is like calling the Guggenheim out building. This is sculpture people. And then this fringed tweed piece pulls through low on the hip-excuse me, I..I... I'm getting weepy. I had been hoarding this giant hunk of gleaming silver, waiting for the right fabric to come along, and make it whole. I found it, but then it appeared it had sold out while I made my decision. But yesterday I got the call it had been unearthed in the warehouse. And at 12:47 last night, or rather this morning,I pulled that tweed through, and had an epiphany. Did you hear the clap of thunder?

Everything's better when it's made to measure

I know-it should be the catch phase of the century.One of my favorite clients brought her visiting mom in to have a dress made, and said those very words today. But it's so very, very true.You can be a size two, and be wearing the "wrong thing" You can be a size two, wearing the right thing, but it doesn't fit you well, because one person's waist can be two inches higher than another's, and off the rack just doesn't cut it. If it's well thought out, it can make you look fabulous. And I'm not talking a black sheath. I have another favorite client who tells me when she wears my pants, people say she's lost weight. There are tricks of the trade. I'm not hoarding them-c'mom down! People constantly say to me "Of course you can wear that-you're so thin" or "skinny people can wear anything". It's everything in my power not to smack them upside the head. Every single person on the planet has body issues, unless they're on meds. I am not immune. I'm just keeping my problems to myself. I spend so much time working on how to playoff one asset to minimize another on all body types. And trust me, I see them all. It would be ridiculous for me to do a plus size line-it's not my angle on things, but I can do my best to present a ideas that go beyond just the uberthin, walking clothes hanger mentality, while not embracing the Ellen Tracy "just have another doughnut, it's okay" idea. I was just working on a dress today that's on bronze charmeause. Now the idea on bronze charmeause across most people's abs would send hem straight into the vomitorium to drop a few pounds. But I was thinking, if I just move it down a few inches, on the diagonal, we'd be a world of strutting glamazons. Come see the Fall show at to see what I'm talking about.

Lean Times

Wallets, wardrobes, waistlines...everywhere, people are paring down. So what works? Well, there is nothing wrong with less is more, but it's got to be right on many levels. I was working on the idea of an amazing white blouse-one that had parts that defied gravity, but then , I had a thought. It involved a salad dressing mishap, and tears. If I make something that collapses at the dry cleaners, it hurts me as well as you. If I can make something that doesn't need to visit the cleaners but a few times a season, better for all of us. And if it can stay away for months, and just have a gentle run of things in your sink, oh, joy. But man, is that hard. As someone known for their fair share of mishaps, I am all for the multi-use item. And as someone who has seen some things wrecked by cleaners, I know I have to think on the side of practicality. So somewhere between shirt as napkin and shirt as sculpture, I hope to find the answer....