Hi Everyone,

It’s a somber quiet hello today after the events of the last week. Or The Event, the crash of the German airliner in the French Alps, flying between Spain and Dusseldorf, which now appears to have been a suicide mission on the part of the co-pilot—–and took 150 lives with it. 150 families and loved ones who will be forever affected by it, a tragedy of unimaginable proportions. And yes, there have been other, bigger ones, like 9/11 or natural disasters, but this was so unnecessary and is so profoundly shocking. And knowing that there were children, a class of adolescents and babies on the flight makes it even more horrifying.

For the moment, they are still piecing together the puzzle, and as a police detective (specialized in terrorism and aviation) I spoke to in Paris said, it has highlighted security failures in the system: a seemingly fail-safe anti-terrorist system which allowed the cockpit door to remain locked and would eventually open automatically after entry was refused several times—but too late in this instance, a rule which allowed only one pilot to be in the cockpit alone for a brief time (that rule was changed throughout Europe within hours of the crash. American regulations didn’t allow that, but the airline in this case was German, where a pilot could be alone in the cockpit briefly on that type of plane), and no psychological testing required for pilots of that airline. (It seems to be coming to light now in the investigation that the co-pilot had a history of psychological problems, and allegedly had not been cleared for flight that day). All circumstances which allowed the unimaginable, unthinkable to happen, if what they believe now is true, that a person/co-pilot with a history of mental issues crashed the plane into the mountains in order to commit suicide, and took a plane full of innocents with him. Apparently, the pilot (who had left the cockpit for a few moments) fought heroically to re-enter the cockpit, and even tried to break down the cockpit door with an axe, once his co-pilot had denied him re-entry, and was taking the plane down at a rapid rate. The drama ended within minutes and turned into tragedy. It is a haunting event which has touched us all. For anyone who flies, we all take our risks, as you do when you drive down the highway too. A mechanical failure or bad weather can bring a plane down, and today terrorism has become a factor we are all aware of, and was demonstrated so shockingly during 9/11. Similarly people who went to the grocery store to buy a loaf of bread risked and lost their lives when terrorists took over a grocery store in Paris recently, and tragedy struck there too. But to have to worry now about becoming part of a pilot or co-pilot’s suicide is a heavy dose of reality for us all. And it is always a tragedy when lives are lost, or even one life, whatever the circumstances.

Authorities are now looking for fragments of the victims’ bodies to return to their families, using DNA tests to identify even tiny pieces. It is ALL so unthinkable. The death of any loved one or family member, or even a good friend, changes your life forever. The absence of that person leaves a hole and an ache in your heart forever. The terrible ‘why’ it happened, trying to understand why they were struck by an illness, or being in the wrong place at the wrong time, a careless moment behind the wheel of a car, or why they may have been negligent for an instant. And to die in innocence seems such a terrible way to lose someone. And to be the victim of someone else’s suicide, in a circumstance where you are supposed to feel relatively safe and have no control, seems particularly awful. I was in Paris when it happened, and people all over Europe are badly shaken by it, as I am sure they are in the States too. I flew myself 3 days later, and I think the event was on everyone’s mind then as well, both passengers and crew seemed unusually quiet, and I felt that way too. It peels away a layer of safety and trust, and adds one more thing to worry about on the list, along with terrorism, mechanical failure, and bad weather.

The world seems so troubled these days, none of us feel totally safe anymore in our daily lives, wherever we live, whether put at risk by a crazed student on a campus, a shooter in a fast food store, as victims of an elaborate plot, or simply one lone moment of madness, as seems to have happened on the flight from Spain to Germany this week. What is making the world so much more tense, causing people to implode and commit unthinkable acts (like at the Boston Marathon), fall prey to politics which injure others, or take others with them in an act of suicide? We hear about too many of these events. It crosses our minds more often, and we and our loved ones seem so much more at risk in the world today. I think about it each time my children fly, or I do, and probably you do too. And even a life lived more locally is not without risk, if you can be killed at the grocery store by a mad gunman. We can’t hide at home, we can’t imagine danger in every corner, and yet we seem to have regressed to an era in history (like the middle ages) when daily life was dangerous, and the future was never safe or certain, and the weapons of choice now seem to range from homemade bombs to very sophisticated ones and elaborate plots, a handgun or an airplane.

The family of the young co-pilot must be deeply aggrieved too. It is a tragedy for everyone on that plane and everyone they loved and who loved them, and for all of us, to be mourning again people we did not know, and who should not have died on that plane. Laws will be changed as a result, which will prevent exactly that scenario from happening again, but it is somehow a sign of a deep wound somewhere in our civilization that such troubled people have power over us, even when we least suspect it. My deepest sympathy and my prayers go out to all of those affected, and to all of us as well, as we stand by helplessly and mourn innocent people yet again. The tragedies seem to be becoming more shocking and more frequent. May we somehow find a way to heal the wounds in our world, and help each other.

love, Danielle

Hi Everyone,

I hope you’ve had a nice first few days of Spring, and are enjoying warmer weather somewhere. All the cities I travel to still seem to be in the grips of winter. Paris has cooled down again, New York is still freezing, and had more snow in the past week, and for now Spring is more a hope than a reality.

I had an absolutely wonderful time I wanted to share with you. I took my Godchildren to the preview of the new Disney movie, “Cinderella”. And nothing is more terrific than the world seen through the eyes of a child, and they are such a perfect age. The youngest is 4 years old, and I got her Cinderella’s ‘ballgown’, complete with light up shoes and tiara at the Disney store. She put it on immediately when I gave it to her, and it was soooooo fun watching her play Cinderella. And I LOVED the movie. It is beautifully done, with real actors, not animation, and the star who plays Cinderella, Lily James, is one of the actresses on my favorite TV series (Downton Abbey), and one of the stepsisters is from Downton Abbey too. I saw the film in French, and it was a preview, which was VERY exciting. Now I want to see it in English, and about 16 more times. It reminded me of how totally I enjoyed my children at those ages, and the time I spent with them, where everything you do is an adventure, everything is new and thrilling, no one is tired, jaded, worried, stressed, overworked, or facing the challenges of real life. And no matter what is happening in your (adult) life, the cares and worries melt away with the magic of a fairytale, a delightful movie, and sharing it (or anything else) with children you love. I had as much fun as they did, and they are exceptionally lovely children, so we all had a good time, they were mesmerized, and totally enthralled, and their mother and I cried at all the touching parts. I came out floating, it made us all happy, and was an absolutely great experience. If you have a sentimental side at all, and a touch of romance, and want to be swept away by a wonderful movie, with a happy ending, go to see Cinderella, with or without children, as soon as you can!!! I absolutely LOVED it!!!!

much love, Danielle

Hi Everyone,

I hope you had a good week last week. Mine was insanely busy. I’m travelling around these days, and have had some new experiences. I’ve never done book tours for my books, because I have too many children, and write too many books. I wrote my first book at 19, and was already married and had a child by then, and there was no way I could take care of my daughter, and write, and go on tour for the books. So I said right from the beginning that I wouldn’t tour, and my publisher at the time informed me that I would never succeed if I didn’t, but I took the chance and stuck with my decision not to tour. And actually, things turned out pretty well, since here we are and I’m writing to you, and presumably you read my books. Then habit set in, and (many) more kids arrived, I write several books a year, and there was just no way I could tour, keep up with my work, and drive car pool and show up at soccer games, lacrosse, ballet classes with my daughters, and the orthodontist. So I have always stayed close to home with my children around me, or one on my hip, and my nose in my typewriter all night. Nothing much has changed, except the kids have grown up, more or less (I still have one at home, although her life is busier than mine). So recently, I decided to do something different, but which seemed important to me. I told my publisher that I wanted to meet some of the big distributors of my books, notably Walmart, Costco and Amazon. Walmart is more of a challenge since it’s in Arkansas, but Costco and Amazon are in Seattle, and only a short hop by plane from San Francisco when I’m there.

So I set up the meetings, and set out on a new adventure last week. I went to a city I’ve never been before: Seattle, on a very grown up trip, to meet some people at Amazon and Costco. And since I’ve never done anything like it before, it was a little daunting. It seemed a little silly to be knocking on their doors to say “Hi!! I just wanted to thank you for doing such a great job for me!” but essentially, that’s what I did. And as usually happens, when you dare to do something new and different, it totally surprised me, and was unexpectedly terrific, and I’m so happy that I did it. I’m shy, and writing is a great excuse to stay home and not get out in the world much, but I am SOOO happy that I made the trip. Everything about it was perfect.

My first meeting was with a wonderful woman from Costco, who has been there as long as I’ve been writing. She had a busy week, so she very kindly agreed to meet me at my hotel for a drink after work. She was incredibly nice to do that after a long day, and she even had to pick her dogs up at Day Care before she met me. And it was one of those chance encounters when everything clicks. Everything. I felt like I was meeting an old friend, I had heard wonderful things about her from my editor, and several other people, and everything they said was true. It took about 5 minutes to figure out that we were kindred spirits. She stayed for more than two hours, and by the time she left, I had a new friend, and so did she, with hopes and promises to meet again. I had a wonderful time talking to her about the business, which I never get to do. No one at my house knows anything about publishing or selling books, and I don’t see my publishers often either, or even my agent, or editor. Everything happens by email now, so I have very little personal face-to-face contact with anyone in the business, and I live 3,000 miles from the publishing world, in either of my homes. I had THE MOST wonderful time with my new friend from Costco. The whole meeting felt like a gift, and was a reminder to me to take my courage in my hands more often and do something new. It was really terrific, and got my trip to Seattle off to a wonderful start. I can’t begin to tell you how great it was, and what a wonderful person she is!!!! I felt like I had won the lottery when I went back to my room, smiling from ear to ear. (And of course we talked about dogs too. I always take my two little Chihuahuas with me everywhere, but I didn’t for this short trip, and as I left the house, they both looked heartbroken and shocked, and one of them to prove a point got sick as I was walking out the door, and I left feeling severely guilty!! But they’re both okay now.)

I’m not very good at going out on my own, so I didn’t go out to dinner that night, and actually skipped dinner and ate some pretzels and a Kit Kat in my room instead. Seriously healthy food!!! And I’d had a hot dog for lunch.

The next morning, I woke up at 6, nervous about my next meetings. I couldn’t possibly get that lucky again, and this wasn’t going to be just a friendly drink at my hotel. I was going to Amazon (if I could find the right building) for serious, grown up meetings. And indeed Amazon is a complex of buildings in downtown Seattle, but I found the right building (with good directions) more easily than expected. And was met immediately at the entrance by a lovely young woman who was all set to take me upstairs. She had a fascinating history, and had lived in Thailand, the Philippines and Chicago, and totally stunned me when I got upstairs, and had a ‘snack’ waiting for me of Oreo cookies, which she heard I love, and hard boiled eggs, which she had read I eat when I’m writing. We chatted until the woman I was meeting arrived, the head of books who was a lovely person, and generously spent an hour with me, talking about the books, and she did everything to make me feel at home. And it was fascinating being at Amazon. The atmosphere is informal, people are casually dressed, and are even allowed to bring their dogs to work. In some ways, it felt more like a college or a big school than what I had expected. And after an hour, I was escorted upstairs to meet Jeff Bezos, the head of Amazon. And yes, I was nervous!!! I was led through two conference rooms and several ante rooms, and had no idea what to expect, when in walked a friendly, smiling, relaxed man with all the modesty of someone truly important and we sat down and chatted like old friends. I was bowled over that he, and the woman in charge of books had been so generous with their time, and spent so much time with me, getting to know me, so I could thank them for all that they do for me. Mr. Bezos was extraordinarily kind and welcoming, and everyone acted as though they had been waiting years to meet me, and we chatted for nearly an hour, we posed for a photograph together (he looked a lot better than I did), and then I left, a little stunned and dazed by the whole experience and my two days in Seattle. I had met with three very important people in book sales, and the whole experience was amazing. We don’t talk about my work a lot at home, and never have, I don’t go out in the world much or take advantage of my fame, so being somewhere where the whole focus is on me and my work is amazing and unusual for me. (No one at my house is impressed by who I am, and I wouldn’t want them to be!!), so to be center stage for two days was kind of a shock, and with such interesting, impressive people. I have always wanted to meet Jeff Bezos and now I have, and he couldn’t possibly have been nicer or warmer, as well as his entire staff. (I even took the bag of Oreos with me, which turned out to be lunch. I was too nervous and excited to eat, until I finally got home that night and had soup and some kind of carrot soufflé I found in the fridge.)

I had a fantastic time, and it was a great trip. Afterwards I wandered around the shopping district a little. I never got to see much of the city touristically, although my hotel was on the water, and the sky was beautiful. Both days were gray, but there was a soft pearly gray light over the city, which reminded me of Paris. And then I hopped a plane and went home to San Francisco. Mission accomplished!! I actually got to meet some of the people who are so vital to my books, and thank them in person, and now we know each other. It was exactly what I hoped for, and everyone was so wonderful to me. It couldn’t have been better. So a small act of courage going there, and making the time in my writing and travel schedule turned out to be one of the best ideas I’ve had in years. It was a wonderful, wonderful trip, and I was immensely spoiled by everyone. And I had so much fun!!! Going to Seattle to meet those three people turned out to be an incredible gift for me, and I’m truly grateful for their kindness and the experience. Have a wonderful week!!

Love, Danielle

Hi Everyone,

Happy Days, it has just been “Haute Couture Week” in Paris, the fashion shows of Haute Couture shows, by only a handful now of famous designers. There are 2 kinds of fashion weeks now in Paris. Haute Couture and Ready to Wear. “In the old days”, 10 or 20 years ago, the only people involved in Ready to Wear shows were in the fashion business, magazine editors, fashion press, and mostly store buyers who went to those shows to select what they would buy for the following seasons for the stores they represented. Those in the audience came from around the world. And it’s really more like fashion “month” in ready to wear, since there is a full week or longer of those shows in New York, London, Paris and Milan, each week in a different city. “Regular people” who just like to see clothes didn’t used to go to the Ready to Wear shows, and they weren’t a glamourous event. The shows were attended by hard working, serious store buyers trying to make the right choices for their stores for the next season. And both Ready to Wear and Haute Couture shows happen twice a year. The Couture in late January and early July, the ready to wear in February/March and late Sept/early October. And the audience for the Haute Couture shows were the Elite, famous actresses, the wives of Presidents and heads of State, the Crowned Heads of certain countries, and women with a great deal (!!!!) of money to spend on their wardrobes. The audience for Haute Couture was as exciting as the clothes and famous models on the runway. Now, in today’s world, the importance of both kinds of fashion has changed. Today, haute couture is for only a tiny few. Haute Couture only happens in Paris. It is the fine art of exquisite clothes, where every single stitch must be made by hand. Nothing is mass produced or made by machine. You see the clothes on the runway, go to the fashion house that made them to try on the samples if you can squeeze into them (in a size 2), or see models show them to you again, order them, and many months later, the clothes arrive, after hundreds of hours of hand sewing, embroidery, where every tiny bead and sequin is sewn on by expert hands. Few women still wear those kinds of clothes today, ‘need’ them for their wardrobes or can afford them. And they barely make sense for the lives most women lead today, where women work, everyone dresses more simply and even the best dressed women spend a lot of time in jeans and running shoes. (A typical Haute Couture outfit 30 years ago, not so long ago, was a dress or suit, with matching hat, coat, and even sometimes matching shoes and handbag in the same fabric). Today, there are only a few houses left who do haute couture, the most illustrious of which are Chanel and Dior, and a few designers who are newer to the scene. It’s barely a three day event (whereas the Ready to Wear Fashion week lasts for 8 jam packed days, of as many as 8 shows a day. For Haute Couture there are one or two significant shows to see a day, although in years past there were 4 and 5 shows to see per day). And the women in the audience at Couture used to be as elegant as the models on the runway.

Today, although seats aren’t easy to get, almost everyone interested in fashion goes to the Ready to Wear shows, fashion editors, bloggers, minor and major movie stars from nearly every country around the world, people who love fashion, and others who just want to be seen (in some pretty wild outfits!!!). Hundreds of members of the press scream the names of stars as they get out of their cars, it is a MAJOR event. And like a once beautiful dowager from another era, Haute Couture is slowly, designer by designer, fading away, and only really followed by a select few. I love fashion, and living in Europe for a lot of my life, I have gone to the Haute Couture shows since I was in my teens. And going to them was always a HUGE deal. You have to be invited, the beautiful invitations arrive a few days before and I sat in the audience, in awe of everything I saw. I had a grandmother who loved fashion too, I used to do designs as a little girl, went to Parsons School of Design to study fashion design when I went to college (at NYU, they had a combined program), and have followed fashion closely all my life, often just as a pleasure to see, not necessarily to buy. And when my own daughters were small, I took all 5 of them to the Haute Couture shows, which fascinated them. They knew they were seeing something very special, and it was a rare privilege for them to be allowed to be there. In all my years of attending the shows, I have only seen a handful of children there, maybe only one or two in addition to my own. And they sat rapt by everything they saw. (The shows are always in spectacular locations, with some incredible stage sets to set the mood for each show). So my girls caught the bug from me, and 3 of them work in fashion, and are part of the chosen few who decide what we’ll wear next season. It’s fascinating to be around them, and listen to them talk to each other and their designer friends. And since my girls were in love with fashion at an early age, as were some of their friends, some of the big young designers today grew up in my house, hanging out with my girls. One of them, Alexander Wang, a wonderful wonderful person, used to cut up some of my girls’ clothes and ‘redesign’ them. I would find them (at 15, 16, 17) wielding a scissor over one of their dresses and I’d have a fit and scream at them all about what they were doing—-little did I know he’d be a huge and very important designer one day!!! (He designs for his own brand, and Balenciaga in Paris, and one of my daughters is the design consultant with him.). The whole group of young designers is all in their late 20’s now, and what incredible talent they have!! It’s a hard working business with lots of stress, and long hours, as they produce 4 collections a year.

When I was very young and newly married (I got married at 17), the audience at Haute Couture was, as I said, the Elite of the world. I’d sit in my place in the front row, agog at who I was seeing. And there were rows of women who were well known, on best dressed lists, and the important and very elegant buyers of Haute Couture from all the big designers. They were usually from aristocratic or even royal families, married to important men, and they would select a whole new wardrobe every season. (The clothes cost only a fraction them of what they cost now. Even a suit, and certainly an evening gown are in the six figures now. A wedding gown can cost half a million dollars or even a million. They weren’t nearly as expensive then, although haute couture has never been cheap. But upper end ready to wear now costs what haute couture did then. Now haute couture is out in the stratosphere.) Those rows of elegant women are almost forgotten names now. Bunny Mellon, Deeda Blair, Nan Kempner, were the goddesses of high fashion 20 years ago. They have been replaced by a wide assortment of people, most of whom you and I wouldn’t recognize by face or name. I saw the wives of some French ex-presidents yesterday, but the big rock stars and movie stars from around the world go to ready to wear, not Couture (although many famous actresses borrow haute couture gowns to wear to the Academy Awards. The big houses will lend clothes for special events if it gets press for them. It’s good advertising for the house and the designer). The women who attend the haute couture shows now are mostly foreign, not French or American. Very wealthy women from Middle Eastern countries, some Asian, many Russian. The world economy is reflected at the Haute Couture shows as well. What countries have big money and can afford clothes at those prices? Very few countries have an economy that can support spending that kind of money today. There are probably only a handful of women around the world who still buy haute couture, and can afford to. The Haute Couture shows are mostly a PR and press event for the house now, and are probably a money loss for them in terms of what they’ll actually sell. The sets for the shows are fabulous and cost a fortune, and the samples on the runway (previously there would be about 75 ‘looks’ and outfits. Now closer to half that amount. It’s just too expensive to make those clothes, even as samples). At the ready to wear shows what you see on the runway will be mass produced, at Haute Couture, if ordered, each garment is made stitch by stitch by hand. the detail on the clothes is incredible as well as the design, beautiful embroideries, beading, it truly is a lost art, and a joy to behold (very special or iconic pieces are always put in the fashion house’s private museum of their most exceptional clothes. Every important dress house has its own museum, with their archives, Balenciaga, Chanel, St. Laurent, Givenchy, Dior). And in the audience are not only women who might buy them, but now there are people in the audience who would never have been there before, press in the audience as well as the press section (of many hundred photographers), bloggers, and people who are friends of the house, or associated with them in some way, or just managed to wangle an invitation, and many of them wearing sweatshirts, running shoes and jeans. Most people who attend like to show off with what they wear, but a lot of people now go in crazy outfits, or even sloppy clothes (I do miss the days when everyone looked gorgeous and it was fun to see what they were wearing. There are still some pretty clothes in the audience from the regular couture buyers, but not nearly as many).

The demographic has changed at the Haute Couture shows too. The clothes designers made in the past for Haute Couture were definitely for grown ups, and the women who bought them were a few in their 30’s, the occasionally very lucky young daughter, but mostly women in their 40’s 50’s and 60’s who spent big money on clothes (and had the jewels and lifestyle to go with them). But what one saw on the runway was a very sophisticated, glamourous, ‘adult’ look. Cute was never a word I would have associated with Haute Couture. Today what you see on the runway is mostly for young women in their very early 20’s. Even my daughters in their mid to late 20’s would look silly in most of the clothes, and there is almost nothing I could wear. Last year, Chanel’s haute couture spring show was ALL very short shorts, worn with tennis shoes in fun fabrics and colors (orange and gold, pink and silver, and others). I can’t imagine a single grown up woman wearing the short shorts I saw last year, nor would they want to spend a fortune on them. Most of the women buying and wearing haute couture now are the very, very young women who are the mistresses and wives of much older men, 40 years older than they are. The men can afford them, and dress their very young companions in haute couture, to show them off like beautiful dolls. And the clothes on the runway reflect that, the clothes you see for the most part can only be worn by the very, very young. And for the most part, the women who used to wear high fashion, and can even afford it, have been forgotten and left in the dust. Haute Couture is now for very young women, and the older men who buy it for them. That, and the high prices of Haute Couture, as well as our changed lifestyle today is probably what has driven most fashionable women from haute couture to ready to wear, and has made the ready to wear shows the more popular event, and more glamourous than they once were.

I usually go to see Dior and Chanel Haute Couture, the only two big houses left who still do couture. One by one, all the big Haute Couture designers of the past have dropped out. This time I only made it to Chanel. It was, as always, a spectacular show, with bright colors (for the spring and summer), a variety of dressy and more casual clothes, elegant women in the audience, and some oddballs who went overboard in what they wore to watch the show. But the clothes were beautiful, and the designer Karl Lagerfeld is a genius of fashion, an icon, and an absolute marvel. He’s in his 80’s, and designs both ready to wear and Haute Couture collections for Chanel. He also designs for Fendi, and his own brand. Full of energy, creativity and talent, he is tireless and brilliant. Every collection is exciting, and the shows really fun to go to. The set was all white yesterday, with cut outs, representing a fantasy garden, and as the models walked out, the whole set burst into bloom with brilliant colored flowers that sprung out. It was a knock out, and as always a fabulous event of beautiful clothes in the rarefied atmosphere of Haute Couture. No matter how it changes, no matter how few women buy it now, or that it’s a dying art, I always find it exciting, and an inspiration, and am thrilled and feel lucky to be there. And it is always fun to go!!!

I did an interview with T Magazine of the New York Times on line about Haute Couture week. It’s online, check it out if you like: http://mobile.nytimes.com/blogs/tmagazine/2015/01/23/danielle-steel-couture-week-icon/?_r=0&referrer=
And if you want to see what was on the runway, take a look on style.com.

love, Danielle