I am also inspired by the silhouettes of the 1920's and Paul Poiret's designs.  His Asian influence is also mine.

Travel is another inspiration and after trips to Egypt, India, Thailand, Guatemala, Mexico (the Yucatan, Chiapas and Oaxaca), Morocco, Scotland, Uzbekistan and Peru I am collecting some unique fabrics and trims and ideas for my work.

My admiration for women who appreciate their unique quality motivates my desire to create.  To combine unique embellished fabrics with vintage borders from saris or vintage kimono obi fabrics; to use feathers or beads in 20's silhouettes, and mix fabrics and trims from different cultures is my passion.
 For me the mix is the message.

BACKGROUND

I was always interested in fashion from an early age watching my grandmother sew clothes on her old pedal Singer machine.  I made doll clothes on a toy machine as a little girl then started making my own clothes in the 8th grade with a power machine.  I wrote the fashion articles for the high school newspaper and received a Master's Degree in Clothing and Textiles from Texas Tech University.

I worked as a junior sportswear and jeanswear designer in the industry for many companies for 30 years until starting to design with my own unique vision in 2001.

My scarves, shawls, jackets, blouses and treasure bags are sold in high-end specialty boutiques across the country and in London and Toronto.

I also designed a line of fashion stretch denim jeans and capris, most with lots of embellishments, for the baby boom girl like myself.  The line is called TWO GIRLS DANCING and was produced in China.  TWO GIRLS DANCING is now a designer resource sharing 30 plus years of jeanswear design ideas with other designers.

PERSONAL

My passions other than design are travel.  The next places I want to go are Bali, Java and Ecuador.  I also enjoy collecting - Tuareg bags, religious icons especially The Virgin of Guadalupe, Frida Kahlo images, decorative boxes, Native American pottery, Zuni fetishes, as well as Kilim and Berber rugs.  I have decorated with these in our house, a 1924 Spanish Revival with a Bachelder fireplace and colorful rooms individually rendered by my artist-painter husband, David Lewis (www.artistsgolf.com).  We live in the heart of Los Angeles and many of the photos of my work utilize as backgrounds the decor and ambiance of our house.

My other passion is photography, especially on my travels.  Also I love wearing my designs with great jewelry I have aquired from fellow artists - Amy Kahn Russell, Gretchen Schields, Tzipora Hoynik, Amy Leiner, Marilyn Harrison, Tamara Hill, Teresa Goodall, Susan Green, Sally Bass and Sandra Francour among others.  My philosophy of dress is "more is better" and as Frida Khalo once said, "Dress every day like it is a fiesta".

My goals for the future are to continue designing my line, but do more fabric mixing and more one of a kind pieces; to  do more traveling and collecting; perhaps to write a book and give seminars on how to find your own style and dress more creatively.  I definitely see a need for that!

In 2014 I was honored to be one of the women featured on the blog ADVANCED STYLE by Ari Seth Cohen and in his newist book ADVANCED STYLE: Older & Wiser