I'LL BE OH SO GOOD

I'll stick to you honey like white on rice! xx.L

CAFE JACQUELINE

I've said it before & I'll say it again, there is no place in the world that is more special than Cafe Jacqueline. I don't even think there is even a hint of a place like so in Paris quite like this teeny tiny soufflé restaurant in North Beach. Not one where you can go back to the kitchen and chat with her or at least (which you must) go back to say "Merci" in your best french accent after another awe-inspiring meal. I'll take any excuse to go, even if it is to celebrate a birthday late (mine) & this time I got to show someone new this little spot of heaven, my Mama! We got to try the yellow peach for dessert for the first time - she only picks enough good seasonal fruit from the market that morning and will have either one or ten of what is available, you unless you get there early to select one of the seasonal, you will stick to the classics- twist my arm! The best part is, I've been going long enough that she knows who I am and simply asked "how are you lingeries?" whilst whisking away at someone's leek soufflés & we had a giggle over my sewing cave and her soufflé cave...both equally a place of hard work and much love. xx.L

THANK YOU

My dear readers, I think that it is such a neat thing to hear about some of you who came from near and far to my little corner in the shop and picked something up for yourself! I just want to say thank you, truly and I hope you have been enjoying those knickers and turning heads in those pencil skirts! I appreciate you all so very much & that goes for those of you as well who want something but haven't gotten it yet. Before I get sappy, I'll sign off...again, thank you from the bottom of my high-heeled heart. xx.L

FEELING DECO

I find that I can scour the world for inspiration and it all seems like fun & games but I know that once I've selected the fabrics for a new collection, inspiration for what to make is like when a tsunami hits the shore. Today, I spent a luxurious day at the fabric store picking and choosing and combining different fabrics to create what I didn't even know I had it mind. I feel it is easier to let the fabrics guide you for what you are about to become with this next collection, as it can be difficult sometimes to find what you really want in the color you have in mind. So instead, I play, running around every floor while carrying bolts upon bolts of fabric until I've got the perfect base to start a well-rounded collection and once everything is cut, becomes the even more fun part of choosing the trims and what not. Now, sitting in my studio with a cup of Mariage Freres tea (marco polo of course), the tsunami storm is in full force as I am trying to sort through my collection of inspirations that I have acquired for months now, some fancy, some smutty, always vintage, and am drawing up some blueprints for shapes and ideas. I can't say much more so far other than I am feeling like this is a meeting of the glamorous deco era with my love for classic 50's lines. And yes, I made sure that all of the fabrics matched my red lipstick. ;) xx.L

TROUBLE

I don't take no orders...from no kind of man! ... I'm evil baby so don't you mess around with me. xx.L

YOURS ALONE

"When Miss St. Clare walks, she walks. But when she does something else, she very easily becomes all the animals who ever came out of the ark, rolled into one. Most people move by not keeping still; a very few move by moving; she does neither. She propagates - that is perhaps the word for it - a literally miraculous synthesis of flying and swimming and floating and rising and darting and gliding and pouncing and falling and creeping and every other conceivable way of moving; and all these merely conceivable ways are mysteriously controlled by an inconceivable way which is hers alone." - What E.E. Cummings wrote of burlesque star June St. Clare, in "Striptease - The Untold History of the Girlie Show" by Rachel Shteir

How do you think someone would describe your moves? xx.L

SINTRIGUE

 I've been in that peach cloud again, day-dreaming & dark-dreaming of endless possibilities, open to every idea, color, option, shape. So far, I seem to have started on the naughty side of inspiration...because we all know every lady has got a little good Sandy as well as bad Sandy in her! xx.L

LONELY BLUE BOY

Wiggle with me... xx.L

SCENE 1

I've been in that amazing, incredible yet annoying space lately in my mind. The space where you are so focused on finishing one project to get it going off the ground and aren't necessarily doing the fun bits but more so the gritty bits of being a business lady. I always find that I happen to be most creative when I shouldn't be. Especially when said creativity should be focusing on other things like preparing my website outline for my graphic designer or spending time editing photographs in photoshop, it is these times more than any other time when I am most creative for what I want to create next. The prospect of being able to work on a new collection is so exciting, it is almost like falling in love all over again. It is my favorite part about what I do (second down from this is the amazing feeling of seeing someone love what you make and want to own it), deciding on what type of lady she will be this time, if she has a particular mood or an extra sparkle in her eye. Shapes, colors, fabrics, everything is so exciting it is almost overwhelming. There is always so much I want to make, so many different fabric options that I may want to use and planning a day for me to be at the fabric store is like planning a special secret vacation. The best part is that this amazing fabric store with all of the finest in the world (literally) knows me well enough (I'm practically there everyday) that they will let me just play and pull whatever fabrics I like until I get the collection just right. This limbo position will hopefully not last too much longer, I'm getting quite anxious to see what Lola will want this time around...it will be winter soon after all. xx.L