Why am I here, you ask?

As the author of the recently published book, LANVIN, offered by Rizzoli International Publishing, I have been urged by many to set-up a blog. As a technophobe, I have post-poned it for as long as possible, but, now it is time. It seems that I am missing out on an important opportunity of growth.

The work of Madame Lanvin gripped my focus one night while in a 20th century fashion history lecture class, while working on my Master's degree in Museum Studies: Costume and Textiles. I had been teaching at the High School for the Fashion Industries, in Manhattan all day since 8am and now, close to 9pm, I was fading fast. As the Professor showed an image of a skin-bearing metallic 1920s dress with a brocaded cape with fur collar over the shoulders, we were faced with the question..."What do you think of this image?" Someone responded, " It looks very heavy, baroque, ornate, overdone, overworked." My hand went up and said,"It is the picture of modernity. If anything was put on any of those surfaces it would slide right off to the slick appearance, unadorned pure line and form." My opinion was confirmed to be the correct one. The surfaces were as slick as Teflon and the only adornment was the fur collar which was expected.

Imagine how horrified I was to find out it was a Lanvin dress and a Cheruit cape. And then to find out that Madame Lanvin, as successful in design and business as she was, had been continually passed over by scholars and curators alike in their exhibition choices time and time again. The anonymity of her personality during her life in Paris had led to anonymity in contemporary institutions and classrooms. I was thoroughly intrigued and thought I would pick up the cause for the forgotten designer. When I found out that we shared the forte' and love of beading and embroidery----it was on. I proposed my thesis topic, it was accepted, and for the next three years, I was on a hunt.

Covering every major museum in the U. S. , whether via computer or an actual visit, I collected the data on pieces that were in various collections and began to process how they could all relate. I spent a week in London and one month in Paris for my first European jaunt. After that, it was library after library, Special Collections, the Costume Institute under Richard Martin, the De Young in San Francisco, and the list goes on and on, literally. But this was a search for information leading to an introduction of the designer as there was no book that gave any substantial overview of her life and style and aesthetic. I was putting puzzle pieces together, which meant "the more I saw, the more I realized, the less I know." Barbara Streisand from Yentl.

I was a man on a mission and gaining access to collections, museums, libraries, etc. was no easy feat especially for those in other countries, to which I ventured. Sadly, I feel, even to this day, the European museums were more forthcoming with the pieces and information and yet it is the American institutions with the best most exciting pieces. If an American woman made a Trans-Atlantic journey to buy fashion, she was not coming back with a LBD, she wanted the show-stopper and so she acquired the best of each house. And yet, I found the American curators over-protective of sharing their holdings and even less flexible about allowing photos of their pieces, some of the earliest pieces, to be shown in the book. All in all, a great dis-service to the people who have genuine interest in the work of Madame Lanvin, to the museum itself, as well as to the comprehensive history of the LANVIN book. After all, as a curator and 'keeper of the collection" your position is to safeguard the collection, but not deprive the public or scholars, or researchers the opportunity to learn from the pieces and share them with the pubic at large. Lesson learned, yet mission accomplished. more to follow...