Story - Zippity

Collections: Explore your whimsical nature

“The design has the infinite potential to beautify all bodies, by uplifting your spirit, renewing energy, and strengthening the will to embrace life.”

— Robin Lachman Lee, Creator of Zippity

I grew up in a home where words like “selvages”, “batiste” and “passementerie” were part of a private family vernacular.

My mother sewed for my sisters and me, but always for her own pleasure, and I longed for nothing more than to sit in her sewing room, lulled by the song of her whirring machine, thrilled by the concentration on her beautiful face and the magical way she transformed fabric into art. Until a series of painful but successful experimental surgeries gave me freedom, I did not venture far from her side. In that sunny workroom she taught me that kindness could be measured in stitches, inches and in the hand-rolled hem of a chiffon evening gown. Sewing was our language of love, and it remained a way that she expressed her unwavering belief in me for as long as she lived.

My stepfather was a Naval Captain, and travel abroad meant hunting for exquisite French silks and textured brocades, tiny Liberty of London prints and rich hand-stitched trims from Italy. As we drove through foreign cities, I waved at window mannequins whose clothing spoke a language I could finally understand, and I never felt lonely.

My own childhood experiments with fabric were practical. As a natural collector, I designed extra pockets from Mom’s scraps and attached them to my belt loops or bike handles. I created silky soft litters for wounded birds and orphaned rabbits, concerned for their comfort and anxious to surround them with beauty if they suffered. All my life I have associated beauty with fabric, fabric with art, and art with love.

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Whatever the medium, I have always tried to capture movement and color, depth and emotion, whether in the rustle of a green taffeta skirt, the wind whispering through aspens or the way the sun catches on smooth stones at the bottom of a muddy trout stream. My husband and our three intrepid sons have led me to recognize beauty in less conventional places: at a noisy ice rink or in a thick rough, in the flowering meadow at the end of a hiking trail or in a daybreak plunge into an ice cold lake. Beauty is everywhere, and it is that much more intense when I experience it with them.

Over the years my creativity has been nurtured and refined by some of the finest art teachers on both coasts and abroad. Mentors, friends and family have inspired me with their experience and love. I have learned how powerful art can be when it is shared.

Some 12 years ago my dear friend and colleague was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer. We painted, laughed and wept together, but my brave friend suffered so. At one point she reluctantly had to attend a formal event, and nothing fit, everything hurt, her appearance had changed. I chose silk as soft as water and as purple as her eyes and worked through the night to make her a garment that might help her body and soul survive that command performance.

Zippity was born…

Acknowledgements:

Our flying angels both earthly and above have left us forever grateful! Thanks to all those who have believed in and contributed to the Zippity cause and thank you for exploring this revolutionary concept with me…