Norman Ambrose’s Intelligent Elegance
Friday, January 8, 2010
A few months ago I had the pleasure of meeting designer Norman Ambrose at Neiman Marcus. It was a random weekend day, I was there as part of errand-running, but I knew his work from last year’s Spring preview, where I saw one of his impeccable hand-beaded gowns for the first time. Aside from being enormously talented (he’s not yet 30) and sharply-dressed (he prefers the trad-but-slim-cut stylings of Tom Ford suits…for now, til he ventures into menswear), he’s wonderfully gracious and funny.
His line is so fantastically ladylike and classic, reminiscent of the days when women dressed for lunch, dinner and cocktails. Fittingly, he imagined an heiress making her trans-Atlantic voyage for his Spring collection.
Such shameless romance and fantasy! His off-white silk gown was inspired by what he called the “intelligent elegance” of Grace Kelly in To Catch a Thief. Designing with glamour in mind is in his DNA: after fleeing Europe during WWII, his grandmother came to California and worked for silver screen designer Irene Lenz.
Norman asked a model to slip into this dress while we talked. The lining on this incredible party dress is just one example of the thoughtful details that set his pieces apart – the drape falls away from the body just so, and the coral lining creates a flattering pink glow on the exposed skin. Built-in lighting. Genius (I might add that Dorothy Draper often lined her curtains in pink to, I assume, achieve something of the same effect).
With a classy outfit or with something more casual and surprising, I love love love this “peony” evening jacket.
I’m so ready for Spring, can you tell (and look closely, the merchandise is already hitting stores)?! Since we are still in the throes of the cold winter months, though, I’m loving this iteration of the iconic YSL Le Smoking.
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Delightful! The white gown is the dress I wanted for my – yes, you’re reading this right – junior prom. I had delusions of grandeur, of course, or at least of being Fay Wray in King Kong’s hand (never mind that I mixed it up at the time w/ Dracula and my date went in a faux-vampire cape of his grandfather’s…we were a little bit, um, theatrical).
And then I ended up in a very similar gown (without the dramatic shoulder draping) when I married my H.
So lovely to see elegance.