Fashion designer Peggy Jennings, who lives in St. Petersburg, will have a high profile this week, when Laura Bush will wear her work at several inaugural events.
By SHARON TUBBS, Times Staff Writer
Published January 20, 2005
At left, Mrs. Bush's off-white silk-wool suit with red diamonds and threads of red and green, was designed by Peggy Jennings. At right is another Jennings creation, a light green boucle wool coat and column dress to be worn by Mrs. Bush during some of this week’s inaugural events.
[Sketches courtesy of Peggy Jennings]
[Photo Jay Jennings]
Peggy Jennings works at a design studio in St. Petersburg.
Singer BeBe Winans, standing between first lady Laura Bush and President Bush, performs Tuesday during "A Salute to Those Who Serve" in Washington, D.C.
[Getty Images]
ST. PETERSBURG - Bob Graham had just been elected governor of Florida in 1978, and details were being sorted out for his inauguration. An important issue: what his wife, Adele, would wear.
A friend suggested Lion's Paw, a design company in St. Petersburg, where Peggy Jennings and a partner were gaining a reputation for their antique laces and silks.
The result was a white silk chiffon dress with little triangles along the hem, a subtle clue that Adele was a Tri Delta, said Adelaide Few, the friend and sorority sister who recommended Lion's Paw.
Jennings became well-known in social circles in the 1980s, then fell off the local radar. Adelaide Few wondered what became of her.
Last week, she found out.
Peggy Jennings has become a respected name in high fashion. And now she's making gowns for another inauguration, one a little bigger than the first.
Jennings designed several suits and dresses for Laura Bush to wear this week during festivities for the president's inauguration. Bush wore an off-white suit accented with red diamonds on Tuesday. She was also scheduled to wear three other Jennings' designs, including a powder blue suit; a light green bouclewool coat and dress; and a crystal rose, hand-beaded lace gown over pink silk satin.
Two better-known designers completed Bush's inauguration wardrobe. Oscar de la Renta made several gowns, including a much-touted silvery blue tulle dress for the signature ball on Thursday. Carolina Herrera created a raspberry-striped shirtwaist gown for the black tie and boots ball on Wednesday.
Tampa Bay area socialites have been buzzing about Jennings.
Treasure Island Mayor Mary Maloof was Jennings' partner at Lion's Paw. The company dissolved, and Maloof lost track of Jennings until recently, when she heard from a friend that Jennings was designing for the first lady.
"Its fabulous for her," Maloof said, "and certainly very exciting for St. Petersburg."
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Jennings was in St. Petersburg last week, talking to reporters from across the country. She had to set aside time for the TV shows Access Hollywood, Inside Edition and Extra.
All of this is happening just as workers are busy finishing Jennings' fall collection, she said. The line promises lots of color, texture and beautiful fabric and opens Feb. 7 in New York.
Many people who remember her business in its early days assume that she no longer lives here, but she does, though she spends a lot of time in New York. Her clothes are manufactured in a nondescript building hidden among engineering, packaging and printing plants along an industrial strip near St. Petersburg. Thirty-eight employees work there, most of them Pinellas residents.
"Our employees are truly artisans," said Herbert Kosterlitz, Jennings' husband. "Without them, we would be nothing."
"We love Florida," said Jennings, who lives in St. Petersburg. "We will retire here. It's our home. We are fortunate to have the best of both worlds, an apartment in New York with a home in Florida."
Her two sons, Jay and John, are both in the business. Jay does a lot of the design work, and John is in charge of sales.
Jennings is one of those funny, affable, yet private people. She gives few details about her start in the business. She doesn't drop names of famous clients, won't say how long she has lived in Florida and said she would be horrified if the Times printed her age.
She doesn't like to say exactly where her company's factory, PJ Designs, is located, fearing women would start showing up, trying to buy dresses there. Years ago, the factory routinely held sales where locals could buy Jennings' designs at wholesale prices. But these days, "We really discourage that," Jennings said. "Our sales are all done out of New York."
Maloof said she and Jennings had been friends for years before they became partners. By 1976, they were designing clothes together. Soon, their Lion's Paw line was being sold at Burdines. Maloof later left the company, which closed abruptly in 1980.
In the 1980s, Jennings enjoyed a successful line of lingerie. Divas on Dallas, Dynasty and Flamingo Road sashayed onscreen in Jennings' suits and elaborate lingerie sets. A slimmed-down Elizabeth Taylor would order Jennings peignoirs, some of them $1,200 apiece. Diana Ross, Sandy Duncan and Oprah Winfrey were also customers.
"We were the first Victoria's Secret cover," Jennings said.
The lingerie line was almost too successful, she said. Jennings was unable to keep up with orders and eventually stopped making lingerie to devote more time to the suits, gowns and other clothes that she preferred designing.
In 1990, her company filed for bankruptcy, citing $948,000 in debt. Kosterlitz, who was CEO, said the bankruptcy didn't reflect the company's financial state but was merely a way to handle a complicated dispute with a creditor bank. By 1993, all creditors were paid in full, he said.
Jennings said the business really took off about 10 years ago when the family got an apartment at the Waldorf Towers and began spending more time in the nation's fashion capital. Having a permanent New York showroom brought greater exposure. Jennings' collection now hangs in stores alongside those of European designers such as Valentino and Chanel.
Suits go for $2,000 and up. Gowns start at about $3,000. Beaded gowns, such as the one Jennings made for the first lady, start at about $6,000.
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A Peggy Jennings dress or suit can be found in specialty stores and at retailers such as Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue in select cities: Denver, New York, Boston, Charlotte, N.C., Miami, Naples and Palm Beach. Jennings said no retail store in the Tampa Bay area carries her line - not even Saks.
But a rack of Jennings' suits, skirts and blouses recently stood inside Designers' Consigner in St. Petersburg, an upscale resale shop where customers must wait to be buzzed in the door. There, co-owner Michele Bahen pulled out a pewter suit with a satin lining, a sequin overlay and buttons made of crystal.
"That's one thing that she's known for is detail," Bahen said of Jennings. "The buttons. The trim."
Jennings makes very feminine and tailored designs, Bahen said. She held up another suit, describing it in fashion industry terms: olive-toned, silk with brocade fabric and gold embroidery. The lining was purple satin.
"This is Peggy," she said.
Designers' Consigner has an agreement to sell Jennings' sample pieces from past fashion lines. Most suits in the consignment shop run from $200 to $300, down from the usual price tag of $2,000 to $3,000.
A couple of dozen customers ask that they be called when new Jennings pieces come in, Bahen said. About a half dozen buy only Peggy Jennings.
"There's a lot of black-tie events and your ladies on Snell Isle who get their clothes designed for them," Bahen said.
But not all of Jennings' clothes would sell in St. Petersburg, Bahen said. That olive suit with purple lining is about as flamboyant as she will go for Designers' Consigner, partially because Jennings' more "over-the-top" pieces would be overly expensive for a consignment shop, even at one-tenth of actual cost, Bahen said.
"We don't have the market for it in St. Petersburg," she said.
What would she consider too "over-the-top" for Tampa Bay?
"Something you would wear to the inaugural ball."
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The inaugural gowns will not be the first Jennings' designs the first lady has worn. Bush was introduced to Jennings' clothes while still in the Texas governor's mansion. Jennings began custom-designing clothes for Bush more than a year ago, after Bush called Jennings' office in New York and asked to see some of her gowns.
Jennings has gone to the White House for Bush's fittings. The first lady, she said, "is so thoughtful and caring. There's never a time that there's not a little thank you note for something."
In 2003, Jennings was invited to the Bushes' Christmas party. Jennings had just had knee surgery, and Mrs. Bush insisted that she not have to stand in the long receiving line and had her escorted to the front of the line. In December, Kosterlitz and Jennings were invited to a ceremony to watch the lighting of the menorah at the White House Hanukkah party.
"For her to be so compassionate and considerate to think about Peggy's knee just shows what kind of lady she is," Kosterlitz said.
Jennings is longtime friends with Mel and Betty Sembler. Mel Sembler, a St. Petersburg developer, is the U.S. ambassador to Italy. Betty Sembler got a call from the White House last week. Someone from Laura Bush's office was making seating arrangements for a candlelight dinner this week and wanted to know whether there was room at the Semblers' table for Jennings and Kosterlitz.
Of course there was, Betty Sembler said.
About the inauguration designs, Sembler said, "I'm just thrilled to death."
-- Times researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report. Sharon Tubbs can be reached at 727 892-2253 or tubbs@sptimes.com
GETTING A GOWN
To find out where you can get a Peggy Jennings gown, call her New York office at (212) 355-3100.
Singer BeBe Winans, standing between first lady Laura Bush and President Bush, performs Tuesday during "A Salute to Those Who Serve" in Washington, D.C.