The Navaho print dress in the Donald Brooks exhibit lent by Rae Crespin is a rayon crepe that had been printed with basically an Ikat pattern typical of what then was part of the Russian family of countries.

When she first showed the print to me I thought it was terrific and I bought it from her. I took it immediately to Donald and we started building a collection around it. That was part of what made Donald such an interesting client in so many ways because it was never just 'one thing'.

The year I won a Coty Award, the group of Indian maiden dresses was the finale of my show. I was then running my own division, which was 'Julian Tomchin at Chardon Marche' for Maxwell Textiles.

The goal of that division was to work specifically with the best American designers on exclusive patterns. You must remember what a big print era it was at the time.

There were coats, day dresses, blouses, evening dresses and cocktail dresses. They were printed on four different fabrics: silk organza, silk twill for the evening clothes, a different type of twill for day dresses and cotton that had been water-proofed for the coat.

It was credited to 'Julian Tomchin at Chardon Marche' but Donald was the client and everything was made with his approval.

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