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April 18, 2008 12:14 pm
Yesterday’s luncheon at Saks Fifth Avenue for the designer Graeme Black offered guests like Alexandra Lind Rose and Vogue’s Meredith Melling Burke an up-close-and-personal look at Black’s detail-driven Fall 2008 collection, but for co-host Olivia Chantecaille, the event boasted a sub-rosa sneak preview, too. The designer had just returned from Tokyo, where Chantecaille would be heading the next day, and he was eager to give his friend, fan, and muse a few tips on the town. Foremost among these: Expect the unexpected. “We were holding trunk show presentations at the British Embassy,” Black recalled, as his partner, Jonathan Reed, drily nodded along, “and one woman asked me to autograph her skirt. Apparently, she was planning to have the signature embroidered, so it would be permanent.” Perhaps Black was planning on co-opting the concept and upping the exclusivity factor of his ultra-luxe label by signing the waistbands of all his wares from now on? “Not a bit of it,” rejoined Black. “I spend half my life kneeling down, tailoring everything. The thought of sitting on a factory floor,” he continued, “signing a couple thousand garments before they ship, well, that’s where I draw the line. This business is already going to my knees.”
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