When I began working on this collection, we were under strict lockdown. The Coronavirus pandemic was in full swing. Social unrest was filling the news every day. I had been wearing the same dirty jeans, jeans shirt, tee-shirt and trainers for weeks. I had not left the house in months. I was irritated when I had a Zoom meeting because it meant washing my hair and perhaps trimming my beard. At that time, the thought of designing a collection seemed frivolous when so many important and disturbing things were happening in our world. Our stores were all closed and fashion itself just seemed like an extravagance. It was hard to focus, to concentrate, and to be inspired.

My sample rooms in Italy and in Los Angeles remained closed for months. I honestly wasn’t sure if I could make a collection even if I felt inspired to do so. As this all dragged from Spring into the Summer and as I think we could all feel a global depression [both financial and psychological] worsening I thought about skipping the season altogether. After all when no one can go out of their house, who needs new clothes? If you can’t go to the office, why do you need a new suit? If there is not a dinner or a party to go to, why would you need a new dress? And heels seemed absurd altogether. I mean why would one walk around their apartment in a new pair of heels or sit and homeschool their kids in a pair of jeweled platforms? I felt that honestly fashion should simply go into hibernation for a year.

Once full lockdown was eased a bit in LA and I was able to have close friends over 2 at a time for a strict socially distanced dinner outside. I started to feel for a slightly more dressed world. A still casual world but one where I actually felt like making a bit of an effort to get dressed and I noticed that our guests seemed to feel that way too. Caftans [yes, I live in LA] or simple dresses and flat shoes but at least it was a start. Men too, seemed to want to put on a clean shirt, a nicely cut pair of pants and to actually wash their hair. There was a light at the end of the tunnel. Or at least an imaginary light: the hope of a happier time to come. That is what this collection is for me: the hope of a happier time. Still a somewhat casual moment as it relates to fashion but a time in which we need clothes that make us smile. Clothes that make us feel good.

One of the hundreds of television shows and films that I watched over the past six months was a documentary about the fashion illustrator Antonio Lopez. This film was released several years ago but I somehow never had time to watch it. It was brilliant and inspiring. I was the most inspired by the smiles of the models from the 70’s like Pat Cleveland or Donna Jordon.

The exuberance of those years between the pill and AIDS where life seemed to be more carefree. I was lucky enough to have photographed Pat Cleveland once and her energy left me literally high. We finished shooting at about 2:00 am and it actually took me hours to calm