Sunday, January 18, 2004

Compiled by LaMont Jones, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Diane Baldessari needed a gift for her brother Martin, but she had no money to buy one. She did, however, have lots of yarn, so she knitted him a long patchwork scarf.

	Trunk shows and events Today through Jan. 27: The Carlisle Collection spring trunk show, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., private showings; appointments at 412-781-0371. Monday: IRO hand-painted silk separates trunk show, noon to 4 p.m., Patricia Boutique, 115 Center Ave., Aspinwall; 412-799-0819. Monday through Saturday: Halabaloo spring and summer dress trunk show and winter clearance, Muse Kid Couture, 804 S. Aiken Ave., Shadyside; 412-681-6720. Monday through Saturday: Mason's khaki pants and Ben Sherman shirts, Charles Spiegel for Men/the Garage, 5841 Forbes Ave., Squirrel Hill; 412-421-9311. Friday through next Sunday: Saison Blanche bridal couture show featuring designer Lucia Aguiar, One Enchanted Evening, 1279 Perry Highway, Pine; appointments recommended; 724-934-4330. Please send information to Post-Gazette fashion editor LaMont Jones at ljones@post-gazette.com , fax to 412-263-1313 or mail to Jones at 34 Boulevard of the Allies, Pittsburgh, Pa., 15222. Information must be received at least 10 days before the date of the event.

That was 30 years ago, when Baldessari was a drama student at Carnegie Mellon University. Her brother still wears the scarf. She has made many more since, and one was featured in the December issue of Country Living magazine.

Baldessari, a Sewickley native, sells the eye-catching scarves through her online store, www.chanadet.com. The New York-based company is named after her grandmother, who taught her how to crochet when she was 10 years old.

"I took off from there," said Baldessari, who grew up in Moon. "Primarily I run a vintage home furnishings business. I wanted to come up with original designs for new products, most of which have a vintage flair or design to them."

The scarves are 9 inches wide and nearly 5 feet long and made of wool-acrylic yarn. Because Baldessari uses no looms, weaves or machinery, it takes about a week to create the patches and sew them together into a single Chanadet Originals scarf.

"It makes a big difference," she said. "It's all hand-done in the tradition of American patchwork, like the early Colonial housewives did."

The scarves are warm, attractive to men, women and children and brighten up the dreary winter landscape, she said. They cost $180 each.

Baldessari, who lives on Manhattan's Upper West Side, moved to New York after graduating from CMU and then acting in Los Angeles and Europe. She worked with antique dealers in the Big Apple until her "passion for vintage things" led her to start her own business.

Baldessari established Chanadet in 1995 and switched from bricks to clicks in 2000 because New York retail space is so expensive. At the urging of her brother, she added the patchwork scarves to the merchandise mix, which now includes pillows and tablecloths she designs as well as antique and vintage home furnishings.

For men only

Caswell-Massey, a 251-year-old purveyor of skin and personal-care products, is taking aim at the growing men's grooming market. The New Jersey-based company has launched a men's mail order catalog so that fellows in cities not fortunate enough to have a store -- like the one in Fifth Avenue Place, Downtown -- can obtain the time-honored products.

Caswell-Massey is no newcomer to men's grooming. Among the list of men known to favor C-M products were the Marquis de Lafayette, Gen. George Custer and U.S. presidents George Washington, Dwight Eisenhower and JFK.

Get a free copy of the sleek, 30-page catalog by calling 1-800-326-0500 or visit www.caswellmassey.com.

What to wear

Author Jan Elliott will be at Kindred Spirits, 11885 Perry Highway, Pine, Saturday to sign copies of her book, "Ordinary Women Extraordinary Success," and present two 30-minute workshops on workplace dressing, titled "What You Are Wearing Speaks So Loudly I Can't Hear What You Are Saying!" The event will be from 1 to 4 p.m.

On Jan. 31, jewelry and furniture designers, weavers, quilters, sculptors and watercolorists will be among local and national artisans featured at the second annual "Showcase Noir" African-American Artist and Designer Showcase. The show, presented by The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, will be from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Byham Theater, Downtown. It's free, and music will be provided by the Dwayne Dolphin Quartet and DJ SMI.

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