 My mother, Adele, was a brilliant seamstress who made most of her own clothes and accessories. She had an infallible eye for fit and she sewed, knitted, tailored and embroidered for her whole family as well as some very lucky girlfriends. She refined her craft by attending sewing and tailoring schools in her home town of Trieste, Italy, where her prize-winning designs were displayed in local shop windows. Until the day she died, she was known for her elegance and refined tastes. Shopping with her was an invaluable experience as it helped me understand the importance of fabric choice and styling and the refinements of fit. I learned what doesn’t look good and why, what can be fixed or changed and what should be left behind on the rack. In a search for my own unique style, I poured over art books and watched old movies always focusing on fashion, hair styles and jewelry. Classes in fashion history taught me how fads can easily go over the top and how styles repeat themselves decades and even centuries later. As a seasoned traveler, I’ve seen over and over the difference between style and fashion and I learned some valuable lessons. I’ve encountered many sublimely elegant women and men in all parts of Europe—people who buy much less than we do but never look shabby or out-of-date. The Europeans from Rome to Vienna to London look for quality in clothing and buy the very best they can afford but they have an instinct for putting things together with great flair. Years of shopping for myself and with friends has given me what I call “retail confidence”—the ability to know just what’s needed and where to go for what I want. I have developed an uncanny sense of what goes and what doesn't. Friends often call on me to help them shop and are always amazed at my ability to find just what they are looking for even in the most chaotic of discount stores. My ability to quickly find what they can't find on their own has become my trademark and draws them to me for shopping excursions and fashion advice.
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