Viewing page 79 of 117

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

-175-

industry in New York, and her clothes appeared in high-style stores all over the country. She was recognized everywhere as one of the most talented American designers. I Assumed that her purpose in coming to Paris would be to see the latest work of the couturiers there.

Nothing of the sort. When I met her at the Gare du Nord, she was bubbling over with plans for a trip -- a bicycle trip, no less. She proposed to bike through the Frency countryside, keeping her eyes open for objects that might inspire new designs. She found one on a country road in Normandy. 

We bought bicycles in Paris and traveled by train to Quimpers in Brittany, the first stop in the itinerary Clare had planned. A religious festival was taking place there and we both were anxious to see the costumes. We were not disappointed but we found nothing specific to put in the sketch books. In Normandy we also went to the church where