Linea by Louis Dell'Olio

[Somertime]

I had to post this from Louis, I could not resist.  It was, unfortunately for me, before my time at QVC.  Thought some of you Ladies would enjoy it!  All can say is what a loss!

“THE MARCH 05 DESIGNER’S GALLERY”

• Post author:Louis Dell'Olio
• Post published:January 31, 2021
• Post category:From Louis
• Post comments:0 Comments

……………………In what I like to call “The Golden Age of QVC”……..once upon a time they used to have elaborate shows called “The Designer's Gallery”. These shows started off each new season…..one for Spring and one for Fall….They created elaborate stages and runways in the cavernous warehouse. The host would stand at the top of the runways and each designer would have their turn with the host presenting their group of new clothing on models……The shows were so long they usually had two hosts to do these shows…..I’ll give you one guess who did the second half……They were very exciting shows to do and there was makeup and hair avail to the models. The QVC hair and makeup vendors were there to create looks for the girls…….Those were the days………….For this particular presentation I created a very special tweed that I had duplicated as close as possible to a tweed I used at Anne Klein. The original tweed was made by an incredible fabric company that was located outside of Brussels. They were know for making most of the Chanel fabrics. This was a company that was a few hundred years old! I made special trips just to work with them!! The company was in an idyllic setting. The buildings were all two or three stories high made out of wood, with old wide plank wood floors. They still produced their fabrics on old wooden looms. Their fabrics were all hand woven. No modern machinery here! They produced fabrics with a plethora of yarns in fabrics that could only be made on hand looms. Their buildings and looms, and walls of bins with hundreds of different yarns in different colors was a dream and looked like something from “Romeo and Juliette” or “The Taming of the Shrew”. I was privileged to have worked with these incredibly creative people. It was a family business, and like many of these very old companies eventually there was no one to leave them to or no one interested in continuing to run them. I was very sad when I heard they were closing…..Another chapter in Fashion History coming to a close…..That is the reason the Chanel Company has purchased many of these businesses like Lasage, one of the finest and oldest embroiders that ever exited. They bought a company that specialized in feathers and making custom shoes, and creating fabulous costume jewelry and many others…..all to save them from disappearing..This was something that Karl Lagerfeld felt was so important…..and he was so right………The jacket was a 3 button shaped silhouette with set in band pockets…..It was lined in a FLORAL PRINT……..the same delicate floral that I used for a crinkle silk bow blouse. The bottom of the sleeve was slit so you could see the floral print. I believe we used real abalone shell buttons……I did the jacket in butter with blush, and mint with lilac, but there were fancy yarns also woven into the plaid. The blouse was a simple shirt body with front and back yokes that had shirring to add femininity. The sleeve was also shirred into the cuff……The cardigan and coordinating tank were in cotton and rayon. They had beautiful GOLD BUGLE BEADED borders, and tiny gold buttons on BUTTER, IVORY or BLUSH……The ribbed cardigan at the top had gold lurex trims, and gold buttons…..but…..what was spectacular about this cardigan was that in between each rib were rows of tiny gold sequins….the tank worked with both sweaters. This sweater was in ivory with gold and navy with gold……………The beautiful two button blazer and coordinating pant was in a new fabric…..a two way stretch gabardine. They came in BLUSH, IVORY and NAVY. The top pocket had an incredible embroidered crest. It was emb. in GOLD LUREX. and outlining the lurex were tiny gold bugle beads……which were added by hand……The beautifully cut pant was back zip. I love back zip pants and did them many times at Anne Klein…….however…….I quickly learned the QVC lady wasn’t fond of back zip trousers…….they sold because they went with the blazers, but reluctantly….,..It was my first and last back zip pant for QVC

[author]

Unbelievable to see something like this at QVC!  Alas, I missed this offering as during those busy years for me I had little access to QVC TV and didn't visit the website often.  

These clothing pieces are incredible.  Hope some of you can post about them if you had/have them!

[Foxxee]

The white blazer looks similar to the one he did for Anne Klein.

Unfortunately, I wasn't watching QVC during Louis' early years.  He's beginning to answer a lot of my questions on his blog.

It appears QVC treated him very well at first as though he was very special.  In later years, I wondered why he stayed.  

In the 80's and early 90's, he was considered the best American designer by the fashion industry.  After Anne Klein in 1993, he designed a line, Drei Tre, for Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman until QVC in 2000. 

To think QVC just showed him the door.  Maybe, he never should have accepted their offer.  

[skatting44]

 Maybe he can't make the clothes as cheaply as some of the others . The Q  is likely keeping the  lines whre they can increase their profit margin.

[Marlyn1]

All of the lines are starting to look the same. Nothing is distinctive. Lower prices means lower quality. You get what you pay for. The tops and tees they sell are all over priced for what they are. Every catelog has the same looking things. At the very least , whether they are your style or not, Louis' clothes were special.

[CGee]

Such beautiful clothes and stories! Happily, some of these turn up as vintage items in new or excellent condition on eBay and Poshmark. The butter yellow jacket in S is on Etsy, in M is on Poshmark. I just caved and bought the mint one there :-) 

[millieshops]

i understand fully that both Louis and QVC expect to make a profit from what they sell, so why weren’t couldn’t neither of them found a way to continue to sell his line but at a higher price?  

I buy very few clothes ever except locally although I have no idea what I will do once I actually want to buy, but I do know some of the lines QVC is selling cost as much and more than lots of the Linea.  

I assume his fans would pay more and still buy, so the problem on the retailer side could be that they were not getting growth from the line.

 I know from the business side why that growth is important, I also know they cannot get me, so where are the women would might wear Linea putting their wardrobe dollars instead?  That’s who you all need!

[golding76]

Somertime,

Thank you for drawing my attention to this charming account of Linea and lusher times at QVC.  I was so moved that I felt compelled to write the following on Louis's blog:

What an enchanting account of these beautiful articles of clothing and the places where they were created. Truly, I am dumbfounded and in complete awe. A Golden Age, indeed, and in so many ways. For QVC, for you and for your clients at QVC. How fortunate they all were to have been looking at QVC during this incredible era. (My being was in a special world as I read your account of this extraordinary time. I was in a place of rhapsody.)

What an incredibly talented designer Louis is.   QVC was privileged to have him in their "stable."  He was their world-class talent, and I hope they always remember that. 

[DiAnne]

@millieshops 

Through the years the quality of Linea fabrics diminished  as natural fibers got more expensive and Q customers were not into dry cleaning so lots of polyester.  I think alot of the Linea customers moved on.

[Marlyn1]

DiAnne, I can't say I totally agree with you. Yes, silk and wools were definitely dropped because of price, but Louis has used many rayon blend fabrics like his ponte that has no polyester in it. There are too many beautiful fabrics to list, but his WK and TCF are for me the best on QVC. Who did "they" move on to? No one on QVC.