While on concert tour in China this past summer, I ventured with my husband and our young translator to a dressmaker in Hangzhou. I brought along a few concert dresses that fit well, but had seen better days. I was told that one could buy custom made suits, blouses and dresses in China for less than half the price in the States, and that the workmanship could not be beat. As a concert artist,  I wear “special occasion dresses” as “work clothes.” I pack them, steam them, wear them, perspire in them, roll them up in my suitcase…they get stepped on, dry cleaned, pulled and stretched. When the dressmaker, who did not speak any English, saw the simple dresses I  brought along with me to have replicated in other colors, she sighed and walked away. When she returned, she had an armful of sample dresses which she then displayed on a table one by one, each more magnificent than the last. They were far more fancy than anything I had brought along. She turned to the translator and spoke to her. The translator, Leona, turned to me and said, “The dressmaker says that a star like you should not wear such simple dresses.” My husband and I exchanged glances. I followed the dressmaker into the large runway style dressing room and tried them on.

About a month after my trip, a package came in the mail from China–the two dresses I had made, one red, and one black. They fit perfectly and the workmanship is stellar. Here I am wearing the red dress for my “Love Story” album cover photo shoot. Now the real test: can I play piano in this thing?

As you can see, I’ve never been able to resist a red dress 🙂