Behind every
great design is a talented Designer. And behind every talented Designer is a
story, a family.
The amount
of preparation it takes for a designer to get a collection ready for Vegas is crushing.
It takes creative juices, discipline, reinvention, production management, mental
toughness, fearlessness and maybe an occasional therapy session with whomever is willing to listen.
Seriously,
we thought everyone would need a drink by then, so we hosted a reception honoring
our designers, spouses, and key staff who we had worked with and included a few
favorite Couture and press friends.
Marion Fasel
brought her entire InStyle team which livened up the party; Women's Wear Daily's Roxanne Robinson-Escriout
surprised us by showing up with a close friend of hers from Vegas who is a client of
ours we had never met!
It was fun
introducing some of our younger designers to the veterans and Press friends.
And we loved hosting the spouses of Rosanne Karmes (Sydney Evan) and Kim
Carpenter (Todd Reed).
Dana Colby
(formerly assistant to Cathy Waterman and now working with Andrea Fohrman) was
skillfully navigating her first trip to Vegas with 'Bebe on Board'.
Afterwards,
we all tumbled out to the Couture Welcome Party and an electric performance by
Neon Trees.
Friday we
attended an event hosted by Town & Country and Gemfields, where we viewed a
major one of a kind collection of emerald and ruby jewelry designed by the
world's leading designers, including Jemma Wynne. It was also a wonderful opportunity to connect to
Stellene Volandes, Town & Country's Style Director.
The last
evening was awards night and we loved meeting Andrea Fohrman's husband Syd who
had just flown in and seeing Arun Bohra (Arunashi) win a big design award. I love the picture I took, Arun with his award and his wife Ashita with her own, a stunning pink Hermes Birken bag. Way to go Ashita!
No show is
complete without Tipsy, Fiona's 4-legged constant companion (Gurhan). I wish I could
bring my pups Eddie and Tuey, but they not so people friendly.
And in case
you think that Couture is all about the jewelry, Jamie Joseph debuted a sexy
Lanvin dress in this year's color sensation -- green.
After so many years of working with our designers, we have formed friendships based on loyalty and mutual respect. It only took four days to get pumped up for the season, and I promise it will be a wild one.