Fit 2 Stitch

Peggy Sagers: Designer James Galanos had an illustrious career spanning nearly five decades.

He was famously known for dressing Nancy Reagan, Rosalind Russell, Marilyn Monroe, Jackie Kennedy, Diana Ross, and many others.

Today, Michael Faircloth, a personal colleague of James Galanos, will show us what sets these garments apart and some ideas on how we can apply his techniques to our personal fashions.

Today on "Fit 2 Stitch," we learn about James Galanos from Michael Faircloth.

announcer: "Fit 2 Stitch" is made possible by Kai Scissors.

announcer: Reliable Corporation.

announcer: Plano Sewing Center.

announcer: Elliott Berman Textiles.

announcer: Bennos Buttons.

announcer: And Clutch Nails.

Peggy: There's nothing better than having conversations with others who know more than you about fashion.

Today, we have Mr. Michael Faircloth who's going to have a conversation with us, and he knows way more than I do, and I'm privileged to have you on the show.

Thank you so much for being here.

Michael Faircloth: Thank you for having me back.

Peggy: I love your history, because it has so much, I guess, confidence and gumption along the way.

Michael: True, hm-hm.

Peggy: You went to UNT, graduated, University of North Texas.

And so, during that time-- Michael: Yes, the whole time I was at the University of North Texas learning my craft, learning about how to create garments, from patternmaking to sewing to delivering, I worked my entire career also at Neiman Marcus the entire four years, selling these garments to the clients for whom I wanted to design in the future.

Peggy: So that was a young person for them to put at Neimans selling those high-end clothes.

Michael: It is, and I was, you know, astounded by the price of the garments, the couture garments, the designer garments, but it was great because I got to meet the designers when they came to the store for the trunk shows.

For instance, Mr. Galanos, I got to meet him, 1980, and he was very kind to me, and I learned a lot of my sewing techniques and my cutting techniques and my design techniques from Mr. Galanos, through our friendship during those times.

Peggy: And then during-- when you graduated, you were still working at Neimans.

Michael: Yes.

Peggy: But he's the guy who said what to you?

I'm amazed at this.

Michael: Well, you know, I kind of worked my way into asking him, when I had enough nerve, if he would like me-- if I could possibly come and work for him, it would be my dream, of course, to intern with him and be an assistant for him, and he said, "You don't need it.

Just start, just do it."

Peggy: Wow, and you did.

Michael: I did.

Scary.

Peggy: You actually listened to him and you did.

Wow, that's just so exciting to me, because so many people think-- and not to say it hasn't been a very long, hard road, but yet they work for others, so many other companies, and then go to their own.

As we look at even the histories of Karl Lagerfeld, all these, they go to work for others and then break out on their own, and you just went right to it.

I love that.

I just love that.

Just that the confidence and everything was there.

So we're gonna talk about the history, and where do we start?

Michael: Well, for instance, this particular dress that we're gonna talk about, at-- the University of North Texas houses the Texas Fashion Collection, and I'm putting on my gloves here because for conservation reasons, we're gonna protect the garments and the fibers as much as we can.

So while I'm talking about these, I'm going to wear these gloves for them.

So, but this first garment here in black, it's from 1986, and it is Mr. Galanos's collection that he did show at Neiman Marcus at the time when I-- Peggy: 19-- Michael: 1986, was this particular dress.

It was now a part of the Texas Fashion Collection.

But let's talk a little bit about his construction and things I learned from him that I still employ in making of my garments today.

Peggy: Oh, that would be vastly wonderful.

Michael: Oh yes, but the hallmarks of his clothing and his design is on the inside of the garments.

He would always leave 1-inch side seams on side seams and centerback.

So you have 6 inches of extra garment inside to let out the garment as the person aged or changed sizes and she enjoyed her garment and wanted to, you know, enjoy it for years and years, if she did fluctuate in her size, the garment could be let out.

Also, the stability of the seam-- the integrity of the seam is there because of the extra fabric here.

He would always bind off his seams with a silk mousseline or silk chiffon bias binding and tacked to the inside.

All of his garments always had a silk underlining.

Peggy: Ah, you don't even see that unless you know of it.

Michael: Don't even see it, but the importance of the silk underlining, two things, is it gave you stability to the fabric and also prevented your body oils touching the actual fabric itself.

Keep in mind that in the '80s-- '70s, '80s women didn't wear much undergarments at the time.

These older garments, women wore pantyhose, hosiery, girdles, bras, you know, so you had a lot of material between you and the garment.

Here, in the '70s, '80s, not very much, you know, it was very, very little undergarments.

Peggy: 'Cause you had a lot of women started just throwing away their, you know.

Michael: Right, their undergarments.

One of the important things about the underlining, whether it be silk chiffon or silk organza, is that it stabilizes the outer fabric, keeps the oils from the actual fabric itself, but also in construction you, when you do your hemming, you would attach the facing or the hem to the underlining so you never see any pick marks on the outside of the garment.

Peggy: Ah, so it almost looks like that's sewn as one.

Michael: Correct, so you do.

Peggy: And then when it's hemmed-- Michael: You cut it together, you frame them, as we say.

You frame the two pieces of garment-- two pieces of fabric together before you construct it.

That way, they operate as one.

Peggy: Wow, and you'd never know by feeling the outside of that that there was any-- Michael: No, it's very lightweight, but-- Peggy: Inside layer.

Michael: Exactly.

And this beading and embroidery here, I had the wonderful opportunity to make-- meet the actual person who did the hands-on beading and embroidery for Mr. Galanos during his career.

She was in-- on Sunset Boulevard in Beverly Hills, and she had a wonderful studio, very expressive, and she would do all the hand embellishment for Mr. Galanos.

These, of course, he always insisted on the finest of fabrics, finest of beads, so these are gonna be Swarovski-cut beads-- Peggy: Like you.

Michael: Yes, you know, so I do try to honor him in what I do, yeah, so it's very important.

Peggy: So the price of beads and the level of beads and the quality of beads.

Ultimately, do you think your customer is aware of them?

Do you let your customer know of the quality you're using?

Do you think it's more important to you or more important to the person purchasing?

Michael: The wearer knows the difference when she sees it.

Doesn't necessarily know the difference when she's making that decision at the front end.

My clients expect the best and want the best, so we use the best.

If price is a concern, then we can do a step down and not do Swarovski crystals, but do Czechoslovakian glass if we want to, as an option.

But there's not the same reflective quality, so to get the finest, you wanna deal with the best.

Peggy: Oh, that's interesting.

Michael: Yeah, but, again, the hallmarks of his, you know, zippers in the sleeves, handset zippers evident here as well as in the back of the garment here.

Handpicked zipper, always kissing seams, never an overlap seam, always kissing seams in the zipper here.

Another notable thing about this particular garment is that he would often put a front label in garments if it was kind of a nice symmetrical garment or a shapeless garment and you wanna put it on, it's quickly to identify fronts, you know, so-- Peggy: That's really-- I don't think I've ever seen that before.

Michael: But he always did.

Front-- if it was necessary, he would put "Front," for instance, on trousers that were, you know, very full palazzo pants, he would always put "Front" on the label so when you put it on, you see the front, and especially if you're getting dressed without your glasses, you know, and-- Peggy: Sure, especially as I get older, I want a front and a back.

Michael: Obviously, the front, which is good.

Also, a very interesting aspect of this garment, because it's kind of a wedge shape which was popular in the '80s, wedge shape, or it was just kind of broad, shapeless, and then wedge, you know, down to the knees.

Peggy: To give a slimmer look.

Michael: Correct, especially if one became a little bit more stout in the middle, this would hide that, if you had narrow extremities, still slender arms and legs.

In this particular instance, he had an interior fascination here.

So it's attached at the shoulders, goes down your back, hooks around your waist, so the dress never shifts from your shoulders.

It holds everything in place, but it's just gliding around, but it's not really moving.

Peggy: That was so logical, 'cause when you take away those darts and you have that loose look, a lot of times a garment will shift.

Michael: Yes, yes, so this kept it in place on the body, discreetly.

Peggy: I wonder if he created that, do you think?

Michael: You know, he-- I did learn these techniques from him and the importance of if you have a very wide in the client, for instance, sometimes very low, very wide in the client, same thing.

You hold it here, hold it here, elastic around your back.

Holds it really close to your body and doesn't shift.

Peggy: What a great tip.

I love it.

Michael: And here again, the same thing with Mr. Galanos, always, you know, bound off facings, bound off seams here, that's to create a very fine finished look.

At this stage in his career, he was doing a great many things for Neimans.

It had to have-- even though-- a ready-to-wear aspect of it, it had to be very durable.

In some of the older pieces that we'll look at, you will see that the inside finishes aren't quite as mainstream as this, they still use couture hallmarks in their sewing techniques, but it's not always a bound off seam.

Peggy: This is just beautiful, and this is continuous.

It's a kimono.

Michael: This is-- no, and because also-- this silk marocain which this is made out of-- from Abraham silks, no longer in business is that company, but silk marocain, at the time, only 36 inches wide.

So you couldn't get this entire length of garment here on one cut of fabric, so there is actually a seam here, two reasons.

The seam here allows, you know, for continuing this patterned sleeve, but also just this portion of the dress had to be sent out for handwork.

Not the entire pattern.

They could construct this entire part of the dress.

This comes back from the embroidery house, and they handsew it together here.

Peggy: So when you do that, when you send out that piece, is this garment fitted prior to?

Michael: Yes, so this entire-- the rest of the construction can be done.

If it's not done on the body of the garment itself, this can be sent out, this can be completed, and this is put on by hand here.

This, for instance, is gonna be a little bit different because it's integral in the construction of the dress at the same time.

Peggy: This is beautiful, beautiful.

What would a dress like this, approximately?

Michael: Well, this in 19-- what's amazing about this is that it was an unsold dress from Neimans, so the price tags, original price tags, are still on the dress.

Peggy: Oh, well, that's convenient.

Michael: So we can tell the price of the dress in 1986 would have been, on the low end for Mr. Galanos, at $1,195.

Peggy: 1986?

That's 39 years ago.

Michael: Correct, and so if you do inflation, right now this dress, probably, present day, just with inflation costs, would be around $4500, but Mr. Galanos, if he was still designing, and at the high-level stores, probably be closer to $7000 retail, this particular dress.

Peggy: Beautiful, just really stunning.

And so simple.

Just really simple and elegant.

Michael: Which is what he kind of, you know, transitioned into as he progressed through his career, you know, more ornate, more fitted, and as-- at the time that I met Mr. Galanos in the '80s, very wise advice, he said the garment has to hang from the shoulders.

Hang from the shoulders.

Very easy construction, very fluid.

You depend on the cut of the dress to make it hang properly.

Peggy: And he certainly dressed a lot of women in this country.

Michael: Very successfully.

Peggy: Yes, all right, so what's next?

Michael: So, next, let's go ahead and go to 1986, let's go back in time to 1978 with this silk taffeta, printed silk taffeta evening coat, which was an ensemble over the matching dress we'll talk about in a moment.

But this one is going to be printed silk taffeta here and, there again, a wonderful couture hallmark is the silk-- contrasting silk taffeta lining.

It's very deep hem, like about a 4-inch hem at the very least.

Peggy: Interesting how deep that is.

Michael: Mm-hm, and hanging separately.

There again, the actual fabrication itself, the silk taffeta, is backed in silk organza, again, for the stability.

And so you can hem this to this, and you never see any construction hallmarks on the outside there.

So that is a beautiful technique.

There again, 36 inch goods, so he's used, you know, 34 inches across, you know, from side seam to here.

Peggy: We just wouldn't know all this stuff without you.

Thank you, I mean I-- it's just incredible because I don't think I'd even look for it or recognize it.

Michael: Well, it's interesting because I'm, you know, I learned from Mr. Galanos, and I bought from whom he purchased his clothing, I mean, his fabrications.

Peggy: Sure, his fabrics from.

Michael: Yeah, some of the most wonderful, you know, fabric houses all over the world.

Abraham Silks, for instance, is no longer in business.

Bouchard, Maison Bouchard is still in business and satisfies many, many wonderful couture designers across the globe.

So then, this silk taffeta evening coat with this beautiful floral pattern-- Peggy: It is just incredible.

And so the whole goal was on these evening gowns to have the matching coat?

Michael: That was the height of luxury, of course, you know, to have the-- because you didn't wear this without this, you know?

So to have the dress and the evening coat as an ensemble with shoes that were died to match or covered in the same fabric, often, you know, just meant that you were, you know, at a certain status.

Peggy: Top of the top.

Michael: Exactly.

But it's beautiful and amazing, these colors, from 19-- you know, '78 to now are still as vibrant.

Peggy: It is, and just as stylish.

You know, we see these in the collection, and they're from those '80s and those '70s and yet, boy, I'd whip this out and wear it tomorrow.

You know, it's beautiful.

Put it on with my blue jeans.

I love it all.

I think it's just gorgeous.

Michael: Well, before we move on to the dress, let's talk about this particular print here, because it's a wonderful botanical print, you know, very lively and very organic.

So what Mr. Galanos did with this particular print is he handcut these flowers in a botanical set and moved over to the dress here.

And so then, what he cut from here, with the tiny little picot edge to finish the edge, and then handsewn onto this silk marquisette.

So the foundation here is a silk marquisette fabric.

And marquisette was developed by the warp thread is twisted once before the weft thread goes through.

So you have a very, very strong vertical line to hold up to the beading and embroidery that you would do.

This, like, in the turn of the century, up until the 1920s and '30s, all those really heavily beaded dresses were primarily all done on silk marquisette because it was extremely strong, much stronger than a chiffon would be because of the twisted warp thread.

Peggy: That would make sense, yeah.

That chiffon, the thread is so thin.

Michael: But it's a little bit dry and it's a little bit rougher, or toothier, as we say, so the edges here are bound off in silk chiffon against the neck in the back width where it touches the body.

It's finely bound off, you know, to be-- make it more soft and more palatable to the client.

Peggy: Oh, interesting.

Michael: So then, we have those cut appliqus here.

In the full circle skirt, there are two circles in the skirt, two full circles gathered at the waist.

Peggy: Two full circles?

Michael: Two full circles, exactly.

And then here he has, you know, the appliqus on the sheer, which is really beautiful and very soft, with a very, very fine picot edge on the marquisette here.

Peggy: So I'm going to assume that all of that embroidery is done by hand?

Michael: Correct, so there's the picot edge around the out-- around the edge of the cutout was a picot edge and then applied all here by hand.

Peggy: So that silk ravels very easily.

Michael: Yes, uh-huh, uh-huh.

Peggy: And so-- but because of the timeframe there was nothing fused onto the back to help-- Michael: At the time, there was not.

No, there was no-- nothing adhering at that time period.

So these were all done very, very quickly, very carefully.

You know, you would cut it away from the fabrication and then do the picot edge and then apply it as quickly as you could.

One thing that's odd about this garment and looking at it, we do see some beautiful hallmarks of Mr. Galanos, like the buttonhole stitched around, the crochet lip around the hook and eye, which is the hallmark of his, but typically always a hand zipper.

This one, maybe it was replaced at some time, I'm not really sure, but it's a machine set-in zipper as opposed to hand.

Peggy: And this was in '70s also, with the coat.

This was still-- we're still in the '70s, '78?

Michael: Exactly, and so one thinks if the client did wear it and enjoyed a few times, then it may have been altered over-- the zipper may have been replaced, you know, over the years because, let's talk about that also, Peggy, measuring the interior-- Peggy: I love knowing all this stuff, I just-- Michael: Measuring the interior waist on this dress, which is held in place by a grosgrain ribbon, which you'll see in the majority of his dresses also.

This grosgrain ribbon inside the dress hooks separately, keeps the dress waistline where it should be on your body.

So if you're moving your shoulders up and down, the dress won't move from your waistline.

Peggy: Interesting.

Michael: So, measuring the original waistline circumference-- Peggy: Of the female person.

Michael: Exactly, I can tell she had 6 inches to let out.

So the original waistline of this dress for a size 12 at that period was 22.

The waistline measured 22, and it was let out to a 27.

So you can see here where it was let out.

You know, so the stitch line's original, and where it was let out, so it's just amazing.

Peggy: So she didn't try to fit into the dress, she made the dress fit her?

Michael: Yes, which may account with-- when you're doing conservation and maintaining historical clothes and looking at them, you can kind of make these assumptions by-- the finger boning here, okay, so also at this time period, the client would have worn a strapless bra because it's sheer to the shoulder.

You know, there's nothing-- so it's sheer to the shoulder.

Peggy: Today, they would just put a bra strap under it, huh?

Michael: Exactly, exactly, exactly.

Peggy: It's really degraded to that level, but anyway.

Michael: So these are hanger loops so we'll not really look at these.

These are just hanger loops to keep the weight, you know, from pulling on the dress itself while it's being stored.

But, the client would have worn a bustier and a girdle and a corset and a petticoat, so what this little piece here, it's called a finger boning at the centerfront, it's a covered piece of boning.

Neimans has personalized it here with their logo, that tucks inside the bra so the dress never moves from your cleavage.

Peggy: Oh my gosh.

Michael: So it keeps everything in place, and you're discreet throughout your entire dinner.

Peggy: How interesting.

How interesting is that?

Michael: You know, also another contouring-- Peggy: They don't teach us that in patternmaking.

Michael: No, we still use it, and we use it in the back of dresses too.

If it's a very low back and you're wearing a strapless bra-- Peggy: Just to keep things in place?

Michael: Keep things in place, yeah.

So little techniques like that.

Also important in couture garments, and in some ready-to-wear garments, is this horizontal dart here that goes from bustpoint to bustpoint.

If you put that horizontal dart usually about 1/4-inch deep, it contours right here.

It makes you-- for a more natural bustline and not just, like, a monobosom.

Peggy: Ah, monobosom, I like that.

Michael: Obviously, this is either a couture sample or a couture garment made for an individual with the Neiman Marcus label, so it would have gone through-- retailed through Neimans, but may have been especially made for someone because he would have samples to show, but then he would construct it for an individual.

Peggy: So if someone wanted him to make a dress for them, would they go through Neimans in that time?

Or would they go straight to him?

Michael: It is-- when one designer has an established relationship with retailers, whether it be Bergdorf, Martha's, Neiman Marcus, it is in good business ethics to go through the retailer.

Although, all designers have a handful or two handfuls of clients that they work with individually, just-- those relationships are very important, they're very key.

Peggy: Nancy Reagan never went to Neiman Marcus.

Michael: No, well, she may have gone there, you know, to-- Peggy: In the beginning.

Michael: Yeah, in the beginning, but especially when you have a high-profile situation, she would have gone directly to his studio in California, in L.A., or he would have gone to the White House to fit her.

Peggy: Sure, for privacy, if nothing else.

Michael: Yes, yes, yes.

Peggy: This is amazing.

I love all these secrets, the secrets inside the garments.

And then we come back to-- Michael: Yes, from black to white.

Also and this would have been brighter white, or what we call natural white, because in silk you never get a bleached white, like you can in cotton.

So, originally, this dress would have been what we call natural white, which would have been a lighter color than this to start with.

This particular dress is cut beautifully.

The front has eight gores, the back of the skirt has eight gores.

So, we have 16 gores total, and in calculating the amount of yardage, you needed about 24 yards of this silk mousseline.

Peggy: Twenty-four yards?

Michael: For the skirt.

Because we're looking at two layers here.

We have one layer of the 18 gores, and the second layer of the 18 gores, and they all have, you know, a machine baby roll hem on this one here.

Peggy: That is-- just hangs so beautifully.

Michael: It hangs beautifully, and when you move, the more volume, of course, you have, you know, it just moves and just undulates beautifully.

Peggy: So that is created by having more gores?

You create more bias.

And that bias is the movement.

Michael: Correct, correct.

Because the fabric again was 36 inches wide, and you couldn't do a full circle skirt without those odd panels you have to do to make the fabric longer, like if you do a bias skirt and you need-- it's not long, and the fabric's not wide enough to make your skirt long enough, then you would have to have little patch-on piece.

Peggy: What year was this?

Michael: Oh, 1959.

So if you're-- I was born in 1959, exactly, oddly.

You know, this-- we didn't choose this on purpose, but I was born in 1959, graduated high school in 1978, this dress, and then started my first collection in 1986, when this dress was-- so it's kind of, you know.

Peggy: So the garments are all about Mr. Faircloth.

Michael: The universe is right today.

Peggy: There you go, there you go.

Michael: So with this one, we're looking at a horizontal here and then a vertical here, so it's-- each one of these is a gore, and they're eight front, eight back, creating sixteen.

And then, hemming this.

Typically, on Mr. Galanos's normal, straighter garments, he would do the outside layer, multi-layered chiffon, he would do the outside layer with a handrolled hem, so it was beautiful and fine to everyone's eye.

The interior layers-- and it wasn't customary for him to have eight layers of chiffon to create the opacity that he wanted and the depth of color in a garment.

This has two because it's very, very full.

But also, with our 24 yards of fabric to create the skirt-- Peggy: Twenty-four yards!

Michael: We have about, I think, 36 yards of hem.

So that's a lot of hem, you know, so-- to do by hand.

Exactly, so you buy a babyrolled hem is quite acceptable, I think, you know, in those cases.

And let's look at the lining.

Peggy: And yet, do women-- again, would women know when they pick this up, the customer, the end customer, whether it's by hand?

Michael: The educated customer would, if she knew the difference, you know.

A lot of people do not.

This picot edge here, which is a very delicate picot edge, is what a lot of contemporary designers use as their hem on very fine things like this.

Like, so Princess Chanel will have this picot edge on the edge of their scarf ties or the edge of the scarves and blouses to make it very soft and very delicate because whenever you do, you know, a rigid hem or the more you turn it, the stiffer it becomes, you know?

So when this is all steamed out, this dress probably has a lot more bounce to it.

You know, when it's steamed out and not been archived, you know, for so long.

Peggy: Sure, I mean, you couldn't tell me that 24 yards, 36 yards, whatever, could make a woman look-- Michael: As slender.

Peggy: Thin, yeah, and I'm amazed at how many yards are in that skirt and how good it looks.

Michael: Yes, and that's the beauty of couture garments is the luxe amount of fabrics.

You use luxe fabrics and you use a great amount of luxe fabrics.

And the cost then is reflective of that.

In the bodice, for instance, a very fitted bodice, in this time period, 1959, women wore, of course, they're in a lot of strong foundations to hold the body in the shape that was demanded at the time in the fashion.

And then you sometimes were restricted in your movements, there was no stress put on the dress because all the stress was held in by the undergarment, but for freedom of movement-- Peggy: On the outside until-- the stress was on the inside.

Michael: Correct, correct, and so to provide freedom of movement in this particular dress with a very tight bodice and a very high armhole, which kept the waistline in place, you had to have a gusset here to allow for that movement.

Peggy: It is beautiful.

Michael: It is very nice.

Peggy: And I just hate that we're, like, out of time, because-- Michael: I could talk for a month about these three garments.

Peggy: Well, it's just amazing to me how many details you can appreciate and understand, and we just wouldn't know that without you, so thank you so much.

Michael: It's 40 years of trying.

Peggy: It's priceless.

What's between those ears is priceless.

So if anyone came to you and said, "Mr. Faircloth, I'd like to work with you," you would say, what?

Michael: Of course, call me.

Email me.

Peggy: This is what Mr. Galanos said.

He said, "No, I'm too busy."

Michael: He said, "You're too talented, you can do it on your own."

Peggy: Oh, you don't need it.

Michael: He said, "You don't even need to come work for me, just start."

And I took his advice and started with one client.

Peggy: What priceless information.

It's just been so much fun.

The time goes so fast.

Michael: It does.

Peggy: But learning about all these little details is incredible.

Michael: Thank you, and it's a pleasure to share them with you and to share these beautiful garments from the Texas Fashion Collection.

Peggy: Thank you.

Thank you, Michael.

It has been said you can have anything you want in life if you dress for it.

The woman's suit has long been recognized as the power uniform for success.

How has it changed through the years?

The evolution of the suit next time on "Fit 2 Stitch."

announcer: "Fit 2 Stitch" is made possible by Kai Scissors.

announcer: Reliable Corporation.

announcer: Plano Sewing Center.

announcer: Elliott Berman Textiles.

announcer: Bennos Buttons.

announcer: And Clutch Nails.

announcer: To order a four-DVD set of "Fit 2 Stitch," series 12, please visit our website at fit2stitch.com.