Fashion Oracle: Trend Forecasting to Paper Dolls with David Wolfe (Dressed Classic)

Summary

DRESSED: The History of Fashion

Episode: Fashion Oracle: Trend Forecasting to Paper Dolls with David Wolf
Air Date: January 28, 2026
Guests: David Wolf (Trend Forecaster, Illustrator, Paper Doll Artist)
Hosts: Cassidy Zachary & April Callahan

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Episode Overview

This Dressed Classic episode features the legendary David Wolf: a fashion illustrator, editor, trend forecaster, and acclaimed paper doll artist. Tracing Wolf’s 60-year trajectory, the conversation explores the origins of his fascination with fashion, his pioneering work in trend forecasting, his colorful adventures throughout the industry, and his joyful return to paper doll artistry. The episode offers rare insight into the behind-the-scenes world of fashion trend prediction, industry innovation, the evolution of taste and identity, and the enduring magic of imagination.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Early Life and First Forays into Fashion

[03:23 – 07:17]

• Wolf's Ohio Upbringing: Growing up in the “Rusty” Midwest left Wolf longing for beauty and glamour. His early life was marked by illness, isolation, and a yearning to escape into finer things.
• Paper Dolls as a Gateway: Playing with his cousin Lois’s paper dolls taught Wolf about color, coordination, and accessories, igniting his passion for fashion.

  “If I hadn’t played with paper dolls when I was a little boy, then I wouldn’t be in fashion because I learned all about color and coordination and what accessory goes with what.” – David Wolf [04:39]

• Social Restrictions: Being a boy fascinated by paper dolls in the 1940s–50s required secrecy, especially given familial disapproval. Wolf later related this with other gay men from older generations, noting how paper dolls provided a covert creative escape.

2. From Ohio Department Stores to New York

[08:08 – 13:55]

• As a teenager, Wolf was an avid researcher and helped groom his sister Sally for a modeling career, even orchestrating a trip to New York for her Ford Agency audition.
• After Sally’s brief modeling foray, they both returned to Ohio where Wolf found his true calling at Carlisle’s department store:
  • Roles Included: Fashion illustrator, window dresser, modeling event coordinator, fashion show impresario.
  • Wolf's fashion shows became so popular they moved to larger venues.

“It was like a graduate school for fashion.” – David Wolf [13:55]

3. Life Challenges and Love

[17:59 – 19:41]

• Personal Struggles: Wolf candidly recounts time in a mental hospital and ongoing struggles with identity and acceptance.

• Meeting Sheila: His future wife Sheila, a British circus performer-turned-cosmetics buyer, was his greatest champion and motivator.

  “She was like Mama Rose in Gypsy and I was a star that she believed in…” – David Wolf [19:41]

• The Beatlemania Incident: At a Cleveland concert, Wolf—dressed in full “Beatle” regalia—was mobbed by fans who mistook him for Paul McCartney, becoming front page news in the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

  “It convinced me I didn’t want to be a rock star because they literally tore my suit to bits.” – David Wolf [23:09]

4. Leap to London: Becoming an International Illustrator

[23:58 – 31:15]

• In 1969, on Sheila’s insistence, Wolf brought his portfolio on a family vacation to London. After nervously landing an interview at Fortnum & Mason, he was sent to Paris for Ungaro’s first ready-to-wear line, leading to his work appearing in British Vogue.
• Overnight, Wolf became a star and moved his family to London, embarking on a freelance illustration career that would grace Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, WWD, and more.

“When the first issue came out I became overnight a star in the industry in London.” – David Wolf [30:58]

5. Inventing Fashion Trend Forecasting

[31:40 – 39:36]

• With Lee Rudd and IM International: Wolf co-created monthly fashion trend reports for buyers and designers, inventing the concept of “trend forecasting” rather than simply reporting.
  • Instead of cataloguing existing trends, Wolf visualized what should come next – often before it happened, using storytelling and “connect-the-dots” creativity.
  • Key Case: Spotting a couple in medieval-revival clothing at a club, Wolf built a narrative of medieval fashion as the next potential trend – showcasing forecasting as creative storytelling.
  • Influence: “Most high-profile designers deny ever purchasing creative information… but they in fact were clients of IM International.” – Interviewer [39:36]
  • Notable clients: Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren, Versace.
  • Later, Wolf founded his own forecasting service and became Creative Director at The Doniger Group for decades.

“The fact that I could sketch what hasn’t been made yet became the big difference… But I did it first and continued to do it.” – David Wolf [36:27]

6. The Art and Antics of Fashion Forecasting

[40:15 – 49:36]

• Behind-the-Scenes Rivalries: Wolf relished sparring with designers, gatecrashing fashion shows, and outsmarting security, from sneaking into Kenzo’s guarded events to disguising himself in a cleaner’s uniform at a Karl Lagerfeld show.
  • “This is not your ticket.”
    “Certainly, it's my ticket. …I’m Cynthia Figg.” – David Wolf [44:35]
• Prescient Predictions: In the early ‘90s, Wolf forecasted the end of shoulder pads and rise of minimalism in fashion—years before it hit major runways.

“It's not what fashion is, but what fashion should be and the direction of fashion.” – Interviewer [37:57]

7. Transition to Paper Doll Artistry

[51:21 – 56:56]

• Rediscovering a Childhood Passion: After discovering a trove of vintage paper dolls at an estate sale, Wolf immersed himself in the community—describing it as welcoming and kind, distinct from the fashion world.
• Created original paper doll books with Paper Studio Press, often collaborating with celebrities (e.g., Phyllis Diller).
• Favorite collaborations include the Forrest Day paper doll book, a bestseller.

  “What I found wonderful about it is the meeting of stars… and they were so nice, they were not like people in the fashion industry at all.” – David Wolf [52:07]

• For Wolf, paper dolls represent a reclaimed joy from childhood, now celebrated and shared with a wider audience.

8. On Family and Legacy

[56:56 – 57:45]

• Wolf shares gratitude and affection for his children and stepdaughters, noting his daughter Amanda’s own work in fashion history.
• The episode closes with warmth and reflections on Wolf’s impact and legacy on the fashion world.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On early inspirations:

  “If I hadn’t played with paper dolls… I wouldn’t be in fashion because I learned all about color and coordination…” – David Wolf [04:39]

• On dreaming big:

  “Don’t make your dream too small. Dream big so you can go on dreaming and challenging and trying the rest of your life.” – David Wolf [09:18]

• On paper doll artistry:

  “I always tell everyone if I hadn’t played with paper dolls when I was a little boy, then I wouldn’t be in fashion…” – David Wolf [04:39]
  “You’ve connected with this younger David… who had to hide your paper dolls, and now you’re this famous paper doll artist.” – Interviewer [56:43]

• On trend forecasting:

  “It's not what fashion is, but what fashion should be and the direction of fashion.” – Interviewer [37:57]
  “The fact that I could sketch what hasn’t been made yet became the big difference…” – David Wolf [36:27]

• On industry relationships:

  “Now, we said if you had a good idea, I would steal it, but you haven't shown me anything I haven’t seen before.” – David Wolf [44:20]

• Beatlemania anecdote:

  “It convinced me that I didn’t want to be a rock star because they literally tore my suit to bits.” – David Wolf [23:09]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Wolf’s Childhood & Paper Dolls: [03:23–07:17]
• Department Stores and Fashion Shows: [08:08–15:28]
• On Meeting Sheila & Life Lessons: [19:41–20:45]
• Beatlemania Mob Scene: [20:58–23:34]
• London Leap & Fortnum & Mason Story: [23:58–31:15]
• Founding of Trend Forecasting: [31:40–39:36]
• Fashion Industry Antics: [40:15–49:36]
• Prescient 90s Fashion Predictions: [49:02–49:36]
• Paper Doll Artistry: [51:21–56:56]
• Family & Legacy: [56:56–58:09]

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Tone & Final Thoughts

Wolf’s storytelling is witty, candid, and colored with self-deprecating humor and wisdom gained over decades in an ever-changing industry. The conversation blends anecdotes of personal adversity and triumph, irreverence for fashion-world pretensions, and enduring wonder for art, beauty, and childhood joys.

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Further Exploring David's Work

• Paper Doll Art: paperdollywood.com (featuring bios and downloadable dolls of Hollywood luminaries).
• Trend Forecasting & Fashion History links are provided in the episode’s show notes.

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For listeners new to David Wolf, this episode is both a master class in fashion’s hidden history and a tribute to creative reinvention across six decades of style.

Transcript

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[Podcast Host/Announcer]

Please enjoy one of our favorite episodes from the Dressed archive of over 500 plus shows.

[April Callahan]

Over 7 billion people in the world. We all have one thing in common. Every day, we all get dressed.

[Cassidy Zachary]

Welcome to Dressed the History of Fashion, a podcast where we explore the who, what, when of why we wear. We are fashion historians and your hosts.

[April Callahan]

April Callahan and Cassidy Zachary. Well dressed listeners. Today's guest, David Wolf has been called, quote, a true force in the industry, one of the fashion industry's most authoritative sharpshooters and the oracle on fashion trends.

[Cassidy Zachary]

I love that so much.

[April Callahan]

It's so great. Very charming. So all of these quotes are referencing the almost five decade long reign of today's guests as one of the world's leading fashion trend forecasters. This is actually a profession in April that we have not delved into on the show at all in all of our seasons. So we are very excited to talk to David today and learn more about it.

[Cassidy Zachary]

And David is a man of many, many hats, many of which he wore all at the same Time. He was also a magazine editor and an internationally sought after fashion illustrator. And today he is an acclaimed paper doll artist specializing in recreating that oat Hollywood glam of our favorite stars from cinematic history. Needless to say, his career has quite the trajectory. And we are so pleased to welcome David to the show to discuss his 60 year career in fashion. David, thank you so much for joining us.

[Interviewer/Co-host]

David, welcome to Dressed. It is such a pleasure to have.

[April Callahan]

You here with us today.

[David Wolf]

Well, it's my pleasure because my favorite subject. Me. Yes.

[Interviewer/Co-host]

And I'm so excited to talk to you. You've lived this truly incredible life. You've had not one, but several successful careers. You've been a fashion illustrator, a fashion editor, a trend forecaster, and now a paper doll artists. But before we learn all about these different facets of your career and your life, I'm hoping you can share with us a little bit about your formative years about the younger David from. For instance, do you have an early introduction of fashion or clothing or textiles that sparked your interests in the subject?

[David Wolf]

Absolutely. I think I was fascinated by fashion from the very beginning because I was so hungry for beauty and glamour and everything. And I lived in Ohio in the Rusty.

[Interviewer/Co-host]

That'll do it.

[David Wolf]

And I liked pretty things and there weren't any in my life because Ohio was not this world's capital of beauty and glamour.

[Interviewer/Co-host]

Yeah. And I think I listened to this wonderful interview with you on the decoder ring in which you talked about your childhood interests in paper dolls. Can you talk to us a little bit about that? Because I feel like that's also an early part of your intro to fashion and glamour.

[April Callahan]

Right?

[David Wolf]

Absolutely. I always tell everyone if I hadn't played with paper dolls when I was a little boy, then I wouldn't be in fashion because I learned all about color and coordination and what accessory goes with what. And the person I have thank for that is my cousin Lois, who was my role model. She was eight years older than I and when I used to go visit her, she would let me play with her paper dolls and I would always be in trouble and that I was going to be found out because my father did not approve of boys who played paper dolls.

[April Callahan]

Yeah.

[Interviewer/Co-host]

I was going to say this is the 40s and 50s. Right. So maybe, maybe not acceptable for boys to have that type of toy.

[David Wolf]

Well, when I so often when I meet an elderly gay man, we discussed paper dolls because that is sort of the thing that clever boys could get away with playing with is because they could be hidden away from father. So I loved, you know, movie stars who were eight years out of date. When I started playing with paper dolls, I was wanting to escape into. Into something that was prettier. I had a very strange childhood because I was like a toddler, truant, terrorist. I had a health problem, so I was a sickly child, to put it mildly. And I had to rely on my own self identity because I always got my own way, a hundred percent. And I think I needed that strength of belief in my opinion and my taste when I was a toddler, so that I could. Then I always joked that I had to run the fashion industry.

[Podcast Host/Announcer]

Right.

[David Wolf]

And anybody who argued with me was, you know, in deep trouble.

[Podcast Host/Announcer]

Yeah.

[David Wolf]

So I was. I was a very strong, solitary, lonely, difficult toddler. And now I'm. I'm not lonely, but I'm certainly not a toddler. But I'm still convinced it should be my way or the highway.

[Interviewer/Co-host]

And someone who's still playing with paper dolls, arguably, although now you design them and draw them yourselves, which is something I'm so excited to talk to you more about a little bit later on. But it sounds like you were a young boy with a huge imagination who found the fantasy and joy in fashion very, very early. I read this interview with you where you said, when I was in the second grade, I got into serious trouble. I not only said I wanted to be a dress designer, but I drew a picture of a hula girl with a navel. I guess I knew low risers were coming. And this reminds me of Jean Paul Godier, because he talks about getting in trouble in class for drawing showgirls. But that's something you are doing at an early age, too.

[David Wolf]

Well, Yves Saint Laurent gave his paper dolls to the foundation, and I was very excited about that because he evidently had a collection of hundreds of paper dolls that he drew very badly.

[Interviewer/Co-host]

By the way, we actually saw those this summer. We were at the Yves St. Laurent Museum in Paris and they had his paper dolls on display.

[David Wolf]

Yes. I think that's sort of given for a very secret society in the world. Boys who should have been dress designers.

[Interviewer/Co-host]

Yes, yes, absolutely. And who became dress designers and, like yourself, became very, very successful in the fashion industry. I'd love if you could tell us about your first job in fashion. And also because this is the 1960s in Ohio, what was it like during this time? And how did this influence your work?

[David Wolf]

Well, the 60s in Ohio was like the 50s in the rest of the world.

[Interviewer/Co-host]

Okay.

[David Wolf]

But the thing that I had access to was local newspapers because in those days when I was growing up, newspapers all had fashion stories and fashion advertising and beautiful artwork just because they were insular and they could afford newspaper lineage into a degree that we can't do today. So that's why there aren't beautiful big drawings in the newspapers. It would be too expensive, but that's, that's what they did. So every every Sunday, I would look at the Cleveland Plain dealer and see 20 pages of fashion illustration. And I always liked drawing. In my solitary childhood, I drew all the time. And I was a coloring book fanatic who did not put up with anything going out of the lines. I could get very upset with people who didn't color properly. So it was like I was hollow and I was beginning to fill up. Whatever this vessel is, that's me. And I wanted to be a fashion illustrator right from the get go. I really succeeded in a way that I never dreamed of. And that was sort of a life lesson I learned later on. Don't make your dream too small. Dream big so you can go on dreaming and challenging and trying the rest of your life. That's what makes it exciting.

[Interviewer/Co-host]

Absolutely. And so from 1960 to 1968, I believe you worked at Carlisle's department store.

[David Wolf]

Well, I already almost had a fashion career as a model agent before I worked at Carlisle's.

[Interviewer/Co-host]

Oh, okay.

[David Wolf]

I had a sister three years younger than I, and she and I were like cat and dogs fighting when we were little because she was the perfect son for my father. She could play football, she could throw the baseball, and she could ride a two wheeled bike like a fiend. And so we had nothing in common because there was little sickly, convulsed David playing with his paper dolls. And we had nothing in common until she became an adolescent and something wonderful happened. She blossomed into a beautiful young woman. And by that time I was in high school. And I always think the first things I said when I was learning to speak as a child was, I gotta get out of here. And when I looked at her, I thought, she looks so much like a fashion illustration. She looks like a paper doll. And then I thought to me, well, then why couldn't she be a model? And I took care of grooming her as a teenager to be a model. So I did all kinds of research. I'm a research fiend. And so I found out all about the modeling industry, which was not what it is today, but certainly an escape from Ohio. And so when she graduated from high school, we got on the Greyhound bus and went to New York and rented a garden apartment for $110 a month.

[Interviewer/Co-host]

Wow.

[David Wolf]

I had found out that the Ford Agency had an open go see every Tuesday afternoon. And those figures are staggering. When you start doing research. Maybe 7,500 girls every year who wanted to be Ford. And so I knew it was a long shot, but I had. I had taught myself to be a photographer. I could do my sister Sally's makeup and I cut her hair and took her pictures and made the portfolio and everything. And we went to the go see. And it was terrifying because it was summer hot June, Manhattan, and hundreds of girls were lined up. The foreign agency in those days was on the third floor of a Victorian building on the Upper east side. And so we joined the line. And it was interesting because there were so many girls and they were all so hopeful. And so the line moved very slowly. And the ones exiting would have. Would create room for the ones who were just coming in. But the ones who were exiting looked depressed and teary and everything was awful. And got to Eileen's office. There was like a lesbian sergeant in charge who directed the girls in and out. And they would go in for a nanosecond, maybe 30 seconds, and then they were tossed out. And Sally went in and Eileen Ford liked her and said she was going to start testing her.

[Interviewer/Co-host]

Oh, wow.

[David Wolf]

Yes. So we started the routine and I went with her for all the test photos and things like that. But it turned out that she was not absolutely happy with it. She had a bad experience with an over six photographer, and it really affected her a lot. And she kept it a secret, even from me for years. I mean, it wasn't violent or anything, but it was tasteless. And so she said that she had to tell me the truth about how she was feeling because she didn't like New York.

[April Callahan]

David, you and your sister actually both returned to Ohio after New York, and that's where you found a job at the Carlisle department store. And you worked there basically throughout the entire 60s. You worked there from 1960-68. And he first, I believe, worked in advertising, but then you became a fashion illustrator and you even became their fashion coordinator. And this is also where you met your lovely wife, Sheila. Can you talk to us about your time there and what that meant to you in terms of influencing your fashion career? What were those first stages like for you?

[David Wolf]

It was the most wonderful job I could have ever imagined. It was like a graduate school for fashion. And as you said, you know, I was fashion illustrator. I was the window dresser. I was learning all the time, it was just heaven for me. And because I knew all about modeling, I took charge of the fashion shows. When you would think in Ashtabula, Ohio there would not be a big market for fashion shows, but I actually seduced the local population into being enchanted by glamour and stuff. And sadly my sister was around, so she was my star model. She'd always be the bride and to close every fashion show. And the fashion shows got out of control and the Ashtabula fire department insisted that we no longer have the fashion shows in the dress department or the bridle solo and we would have to move to bigger premises. So we moved to the Ashtabula Playhouse and like for my back to school fashion show when I would choose the teenage bottles from the local high schools and market them as a teenage high school girls model club. And it was great fun. And the capacity for the playhouse was 2,500 people and it was standing room only. So I really had a great job and loved doing it. And that's where I met Sheila, who was the buyer in the cosmetic department.

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Reimagined for real life.

[David Wolf]

I had had a very bleak period when I was about 19 and ended up in a mental hospital for a few months. And so then when I was well enough to go back to work, my sister Sally quit her job in Virginia and came to live with me in Eshtabula to look after me and make sure I wasn't trying to do anything hurtful to myself because I was really dangerously ill. The thing that amuses me now, and I think how horrible and how indicative of what the world was like then. I remember meeting my therapist at the hospital and he was a dead ringer for Abraham Lincoln. And I thought, this is too crazy. I cannot have Lincoln as my therapist. He was very positive and everything, and I was very worried. And so I finally dared him to tell me what I suspected was the truth. And I asked if there was any possibility I could be a homosexual. And he said, absolutely not or not. And many therapists after that disagree with this diagnosis. But anyway, I, Sally got a job at Carlisle's because I could use my influence there. And she worked in the handbag department, which was right next to the cosmetic department. And she and Sheila became great friends.

[April Callahan]

I would actually love David, if we could hear more about Sheila, because she has quite the story herself. She came from Britain to America with a touring circus of all things, and.

[Interviewer/Co-host]

Ended up having to stay behind in.

[April Callahan]

Ohio after a bad fall from an elephant.

[Interviewer/Co-host]

So she sounds like quite the force.

[April Callahan]

And was actually very instrumental in jumpstarting the next phase in your career.

[David Wolf]

She was an incredible woman. She wasn't beautiful or pretty in the standard way, but she was like a Victorian oil painting profile, that kind of thing. Not the American cheerleader type. She was married and had two young daughters who were so adorable, and they still are so adorable. They were three and four when I met them and she was just. I loved her accent, I loved her brain, and we were a great couple. And she divorced her husband and married me and we lived excitingly but not smoothly for years. I always say I would not have had a career if I hadn't met Sheila because she was like Mama Rose in Gypsy and I was a star that she believed in, so. And she was the funniest woman I ever knew. And she knew how to make me laugh like nobody's business, which was great. And she's the one who's responsible for the terrible mob scene I had at the Beatle concert. Do you know about that?

[Interviewer/Co-host]

Yes, that was definitely one of my questions. Because if I'm not mistaken, in 197064 is an incident you're talking about where you were mistaken for someone. So why don't you go ahead and tell us about that.

[David Wolf]

Well, as someone who was obsessed with fashion, I knew a lot about European pop culture because I had all the European magazines bought for me at Carlisle's for my fashion work with them. So I had learned about the Beatles when they were first happening and in a big way in the uk with lots of, lots of media coverage. And I thought it was absolutely cool. And so I got Sheila's girlfriend, who was a hairdresser, to give me the chamber pot haircut that the Beatles had when they were young and a silky suit and Chelsea boots. So because I used to play fashion seriously on myself and I was crazed about looking like a beetle. And the Beatles did not come to Cleveland, but there was a closed circuit TV concert given in the movie theater and I had a kid brother that was a Beatles fan. So we went to the concert together and as we had our seat, I started hearing like a crowd noise, building, but I couldn't realize what they were talking about until the girl sitting in the row in front of us turned around and started climbing over the seats and said, Paul's here, Paul's here. So all the girls, hormonally challenged adolescents, climbed over their chairs and started coming because they just wanted to touch my suit. And it got out of control and they were climbing over each other and crying and screaming and everything. And so I tried to get out and couldn't. But evidently the theater manager understood that the story was happening and he called the police to rescue me. So that's how it ended up with front page story in the Cleveland plate dealer that I still remember to this, this day.

[Interviewer/Co-host]

You know, how could you forget being mobbed by a bunch of teenage girls? I mean, it's funny because 1964 is Beatle. When Beatlemania like hit America, I think they did a tour here, right as you just mentioned. So everyone was so excited about the Beatles and then to have one in their very own local theater there was.

[David Wolf]

A big one, convinced me that I didn't want to be a rock star because they literally tore my suit to bits.

[Interviewer/Co-host]

Oh my goodness. That is a story for the books. Do you have a picture of that front page article by chance? Maybe I can track it down.

[David Wolf]

I used to. I don't think, I don't think I have it anymore. If so, it will be a bright yellow and bone dry.

[Interviewer/Co-host]

That sounds like some sleuthing I'm going to do now to see if I can track down this front page article. But you mentioned Sheila. Sheila's response, responsible for so much of. She was your biggest champion. She helped you so much in your career. And in one way in which she did that was this really transformative experience in 1969 where I believe you went on a family vacation to London and you never came back.

[David Wolf]

No fool.

[Interviewer/Co-host]

Do you want to tell us? I mean in a very short period in 1969 you became an internationally sought after fashion illustrator. So you came a long way from Ohio department stores. Can you tell us about the events that inspired this change in your life and, and career trajectory?

[David Wolf]

Oh, absolutely. We saved our money to go to England on a vacation after we were married. And I wanted to meet her family and wanted to certainly go to England because I, I knew from pop culture that's where fashion was being born daily. And so I thought that would be a fun vacation. We belonged to a charter airline club. Well long before you were born, it used to be such a big deal to travel to Europe that people would save up, would join clubs so they could get cheap fares from being club members to be in these groups that were run by the airlines and travel agents. So we saved our money for a year, I guess it was, and went to England. And I swear to God, when I got off the plane and got into, into the taxi to go to Sheila's parents home, I felt I'm in the right place. I, I loved it so much I could hardly stand it and that I still love England that much. But Sheila, pushy Sheila said that she wanted me to take my portfolio on this vacation and to show it to people of, of influence and knowledge and they would give me helpful hints on how to be a better artist. I didn't want to do any of this because I was Inherently a sad, lonely boy. And I had to force myself to behave the way Sheila knew I should behave if I wanted to be successful. I always think about Cary Grant's great story. He said that he was born Archie Leach. That was his real name. And so he created Cary Grant and then became him. So I thought if he did that, I can create a new David Wolf and become him. And that's what I did. But then you can't go back. You're stuck being this obnoxious, terrific, dynamic person, which is exhausting. But I'm glad I did. So anyway, I had my portfolio and hid it away in a closet and hoped that nobody, that Sheila would die, remember where it was. But she, of course she did. And I said, all right, who should I call? In a very sort of snotty way? So I started making the list of to do, and I started the bottom and worked my way up. And she said, no, never do that. Start. And I share this with students all the time, start at the top, because you can easily fail once, but you're still on the top of the stairway.

[Interviewer/Co-host]

Great advice.

[David Wolf]

Yeah. So at that time, Fortnite Mason, which is still a great store, but was the fashion story of leadership in the European fashion market. It still was in those days, a very important fashion store as well as a food and fragrance store. So I called their fashion office and asked if I could have an appointment to see their fashion directories. And they, God knows why, but they said yes. And I had a new outfit from Carnaby street that I was dying to break in anyway. And picture this, a suit with tiny, tiny shoulders, big lapels, hourglass shape, and very, very wide pants. And it's done in soft, dusty pink flannel. And I wore it with a deep purple ruffled pirate shirt and Cobra platform high heeled boots. And it's still in my beetle hair, of course. So I went, went in to see her, and her name was Ann Knight and she was famous in UK retailing because she had been fashion director of Harrods when she imported pantyhose to the UK market. So that made her a retail star. So I walked into her office and nearly fainted with fear because first of all, the office was gorgeous and it was all furnished by with Louis 16th jewelry, furniture and art. And she was sitting at her desk wearing a black Saint Laurent couture suit with a hat, because fashion people used to wear hats at their desk in those days. So I did my spiel with my portfolio and explained that I had come up with this idea that I was using an America Carlyle's and I called it image advertising. And now this is so much the way the world happens. But it was a revolution when I was pitching it to people that it didn't matter what the fashion merchandise was. She showed them something beautiful and sell them what they want and the two things often are not the same thing but they're happy. And so she thought that was a good idea. And so I reached the end of my show and tell with the portfolio closed it up and she just looked at me and looked at me and looked at me and I started sweating and I thought you know, open the trap doors in so on the floor so I can get away out of here. And so she said yeah, yes, I I have a question for you. Can you go to Paris for me this afternoon?

[Podcast Host/Announcer]

What?

[David Wolf]

Yeah. And I said that's what I said. And that makes it so neat is we were the day I had the appointment was the day before we were due to get on the plane and go back to Eschtabula, Ohio where we lived in a house trailer by the way. So Paris of course. So she said all right, I need you someone to do my advertising. And I bought the front page of British Vogue for the next year. That's where the Fortnum and Mason fashion ads are going to go. And she said so I'm going to give you the front page of Vogue every issue and I want you to tell me what we should show and want you to do it for the first issue because I've just signed an exclusive contract with Ungarho for his first ready to wear collection. And so when you get to Paris he'll be meeting you at the airport with a limo and we'll take you to the salon and he'll have two models there and the collection. And I want you to draw whatever you want to write whatever copy you think should be needed and from now on it's yours. And so when the first issue came out I became overnight a star in the industry in London. So we went back to our flight back to Ohio and I quit my job at Carlisle's and we packed up steamer trunk and had a bought tickets to cross the Atlantic and in the last crossing crossing of the Queen Elizabeth.

[Interviewer/Co-host]

But all on your way to this exciting new life that is going to transform your career, your life, everything. And we are going to hear all about it after a brief sponsor break.

[April Callahan]

So it's 1969, David, you've moved your family across the Atlantic for the 16 exciting new life in London, where you become this highly sought after freelance fashion illustrator. And this is actually a job you Enjoy. Throughout the 1970s, your works appear in the pages of Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, Women's Wear Daily. Your clients included Liberty of London, Adele Rootstein, Mannequins, Selfridges.

[Interviewer/Co-host]

The list really goes on.

[April Callahan]

And something that I really love about your career is how multifaceted it is and is not necessarily a linear or like chronological trajectory from one career to the next. In fact, many of these different elements are happening at once, including your fashion illustration and trend forecasting careers, both of which took off at the end of the 60s. And actually almost immediately upon moving to London, you meet Lee Rudd, one of the founders of I Am International, which is this monthly fashion news report that transformed into a world premier trend forecasting service. Thanks actually to your incredible vision. We've never done an episode on the subject of trend forecasting, so I please can you tell us about what trend forecasting is and then how you got your start in this exciting field?

[David Wolf]

Okay, there is a such a thing anymore. It existed in a bubble of time that was. It's not happening ever again. So. But I recognize the potential when it started. So let's, let's just pretend trend forecasting has not started yet. And I meet Lee Rudd, who is dynamic, eccentric thinker, and I was doing freelance for womenswear. So even though it was coming from the London bureau, they would fly me over to Paris to do the sketches and then fly back like a long, very long distance commuter. But okay, so I met Lee Rudd because the editor of the London bureau of Women's Wear Daily suggested that I give Lee a call because Lee Rudd had said she was looking for an illustrator. I went to see her and she had a table covered with paper and sketches and notes and yellow legal pads with handwritten everything. And she said, you know, she didn't have anything except she was in a consultancy with a partner that she has a row with. And so she, she owns the name I Am International. But she didn't know what it meant really. And she knew so much was happening in London that she wanted to start a monthly report on what's selling, what's not selling, where you should have lunch. And it was aimed at the American market where the businesses were starting to understand that they're in London. I mean, they were laid on their understanding, but that it was becoming so important. And I just looked at what she had gathered and started trying to talk her through it, to organize and present and communicate and everything. So IM International became a must have for anyone from the rag trade that was going to London to have all the information they would need. So we went down this way and it was like a license to print money. It was so successful we would have meetings and we'd talk about what looked interesting and what we'd heard was happening. It was just terrific. And it was such a simple idea that inevitably lots and lots of other people who are doing their own version of the same thing, it just became not a forecast but a report. And that's the big difference. So everything in the first, these early shopping reports that so many people were doing everything already exists. And the only thing that I started thinking well this is like being back at Carlisle doing a window, why they should group the things together and make a story out of it, make it a narrative. So that's really what we started to move toward. And then I had one of those aha moments I remember so plainly. I always went out at night, night or day. I would go out with women so daily people. And we went to a nightclub, I can't remember the name of it but it was like the hot one at the moment. And I was supposed to sketch what everybody was wearing and so I took notes and everything and everybody was wearing what you think of as swinging London. The long straight ironed hair and micro mini and the boots and the men were all in a skin tight T shirt or jacket with flares and it wasn't new. I had the nerve to argue with the editor that I was reporting to said if you send this to New York they're not going to like it because they already have it and it's of the moment but you've got to find something new. And so the editor left and said and you know, we talked about the sketches that would be needed. And so I was just hanging out and having some drinks and I noticed in a sort of dimly lit corner a boy and girl sitting on the floor. And I just thought oh my God, they look fabulous. This is terrific. I think it was Grace Coddington, but I didn't, don't know and she wasn't anybody known then, so I may be wrong, but she had Grace Coddington orange hair and she was wearing a velvet gown that had chiffon suit panels on it and boots and jewelry. And she was with a young man who was wearing a Russian tunic and boots and everything. And so I asked them where they got their clothes and why they were just like nobody else was dressed. And they said, you know, that they'd been to sale at a theatrical costume store that was going on business. And so they bought that. And then I thought, they look so great. And then I thought, oh, my God, I just saw the movie Camelot, and the VA had it was having an art nouveau jewelry exhibition. And I thought, wouldn't it be wonderful if we had a whole store that was medieval? And so then I thought, well, why can't. And I was just about to work on the month's report, and I thought, why just show more merchandise in the store? I'm going to show do a story about medieval fashion and pick out the colors that it should be and have our fabric editor find me damasks and velvets so that we can do a creative story that somebody could be inspired by or actually use. Because all the things that I showed were my sketches. So the fact that I could sketch what hasn't been made yet became the big difference between what everybody else tried to do. But I did it first and continued to do it.

[Interviewer/Co-host]

Right? So it's not what fashion is, but what fashion should be and the direction of fashion. Right. So you're kind of influencing fashion then, as a trend forecaster, looking what's maybe things that people are doing, maybe piecing them together to come up with a vision of where you see fashion going.

[David Wolf]

And it's all about connect the dots. And most people still can't do it unless they see it done, and then they can copy where the dots are. When I became the most quoted man in the fashion world, that was the title I had for a decade at least. And I think the idea that you are communicating a whole concept and you can piecemeal it or not, but it has to be the right concept. So it was like storytelling. And you could pick out just bits. And the things didn't have to be new, but they had to be packaged. And as time went on, everybody was doing their version of the same things. So it became a real challenge to come up with something, a new story. And I always, every February, I would give myself creative free rein to do something really far out. And I was so successful at it. I remember one of my favorite clients said, is there any way I can pay extra so I don't have to have the February issue? Because that's the one I always did my most far out projection. And I love it when people tell me something that is so, so wise that I can repeat in presentations and stuff. I like communicating ideas. Once I get an idea, I want to share it. So it was perfect job for me.

[Interviewer/Co-host]

Yeah. And you actually were so successful at IM, I should say that IM's clients included people like Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren, Versace. I read an interview with you where you said that most high profile designers deny ever purchasing creative information to inspire them, but they in fact were clients of IAM International. And then you yourself, in 1980, started your own trend forecasting service called the Fashion Service, which you were selling trend information to designers and merchandisers. And then in 1990, you went on to your third and final phase of your forecasting career. You became the creative director of the Doniger Group.

[David Wolf]

Yes.

[Interviewer/Co-host]

And you held that position, I think, until just the last few years. So it's 40 plus years of yourself forecasting trends. I'd love if we could just talk a little bit more about how you did this and maybe if there's some particular moments you remember, like you just talked about possibly seeing Grace Coddington on the floor in her fabulous velvet dress, if there's any particular moments you remember throughout your career and maybe some memorable.

[April Callahan]

Trends that you forecasted, I eventually discovered.

[David Wolf]

That I could have done much sooner because the idea of trending, trending is a verb, became universally used that way in the fashion world. Come into the room and start trending, please. So it's the idea that everybody in the world wakes up naked and they make a decision about what to wear. And that's a result of factoring in the weather, their physique, their gender, their pastimes. And everybody has an assortment of things that they want to think about. And they don't realize that they're making a statement with everything they choose out of their closet. And if you're paying attention, you should be able to psych out where their heads are at. So you will know they are going forward at the beginning of the trend to a fourth ending. It was very highly creative because I was working directly with people like Calvin and especially the Italian people. And one of the things that I think I was very influential in doing was helping to promote the Italian designers when they came on the scene. And I really was amazed because I was such an alcoholic. And that's a whole different story. But when I started going to Italy with the Italian ready to wear collections, Italians just didn't get it. They copied it directly from London. That was fine, but they were too old fashioned dressy. Then something wonderful happened and the Milanese textile industry started to boom. And I spotted early on that there was, there was something magical about what was happening in Milanese fashion. I was very important and influential in making People wake up to what was happening in Milan. And for example, Versace and Armani and Frank Moschino, when they first started shaving shows in Milan, the fashion industry people were all going to Rome, which was dead in the water. And five of us went to the first Milanese Fashion Week and it was just fantastic. And what was great about it was that the designers wanted us so badly, wanted the press so badly that they had arranged five days of fashion shows. They took turns feeding us, like Armani would do breakfast and Versace would do lunch and Franco Moschino would do dinner. And so they were grateful. They actually wanted the best to promote them. The French people were not that way because they were convinced because their mammoth ecos that we were going to steal their designs. And a lot of people did. As an illustrator, I was approached by several companies to sell them my sketches from the couture collections, which was very, very old fashioned sort of concept. But I was intrigued that the French were so, so confident of their grandeur that they could call the shots.

[Interviewer/Co-host]

I also found it was interesting in some other articles I read about you that you didn't always have an easy relationship with fashion designers. There's an article actually from 96 that says, who's afraid of the big bad wolf?

[David Wolf]

Yes. It became part of the game and I loved playing it. When I Am International first started, they were convinced that we were stealing their ideas. Now we said if you had a good idea, I would steal it, but you haven't shown me anything I haven't seen before. So we had a constant battle to get tickets for shows and we would go to any extreme. They're like, well, for example, you may as well be dead in those days if you didn't have a Kenzo ticket. And I remember a Kenzo show that was done at Gallery Lafayette in Paris and the show was supposed to start at 7:30. And the buzz went out that it was going to be a terrific show of power because they were having the gendarme and dogs, police dogs, to make sure that people couldn't break into this show. It was considered Cancer's collection was considered like a national treasure and commercial American ugly people should not be able to buy them and everything. So there was anger in the air and it was quite exciting because everybody figured out the same thing, that if you were in the store when it was open, they were closing the store at 7 and the show was at 7:30. But if you were there at 7, you would just stay in the store and then you could see the Kenso show police disagreed with that idea. But handing in your tickets when you went in turned out to be real challenge because they were serious people with guns and police dogs standing there with the tables where the cat and the alphabetical people names sort of thing. And I remember when they rang the bells, the store was closing, and so all the fashion people went and tried to blend in with the merchandise in various departments and stuff. And I remember hiding under a cupboard in the kitchenwares, because when I. I didn't have a ticket, of course, but I had a friend, an English journalist, who had to leave Paris early and go back to London. So she gave me her ticket. And so I handed the ticket to the guard who was taking. And he looked at it, he said, this is not your ticket. And I said, certainly, it's my ticket. And he said, it is not your ticket. I'm not stupid. He said, this is ticket for Cynthia Figg. And I said, yes, I'm Cynthia Figg. And I walked in and hid there until the dogs were out of control and the people were trying to run down the stairway and stuff. And I remember the police grabbed one of the London female journalists with a guard on each side, and this woman was screaming, you can't do this to me. I'm Mademoiselle magazine.

[April Callahan]

Oh, no.

[David Wolf]

And then I remember when Karl Lagerfeld was really hot, just starting. The show was at the Trocadero, an enormous space, and we didn't have tickets for I Am International. And I was determined we were going to see it. So with a couple of other people from the company, we went to the trocadero at about 4:00 in the morning, and the people were coming in, the cleaning people were coming in to get the building ready for the show. And so I thought we could disguise as part of the cleaning crew. And so we waited. And as the people came, French people are always so tight cast in their whorls and tops, so we could tell which ones looked like they were cleaning ladies and everything. And I connected with a man and tried to explain in my broken French that I would like to buy his overalls that he was wearing. So he thought it was funny. He said, yes, if you give me your clothes. And I don't know what I was wearing, but it was not an overalls. But we went behind the bush hedges and changed clothes. So I walked in carrying a bucket and a mop, the other IM people who were in. And so we cleaned and then just stood in the back of the room while the show started. And our fabric editor was ejected from the show after the first scene. And we got back to the office and she said, oh, I've got to call. I can't remember who it was. A big manufacturer. And she said they wanted to know about the Karl Lagerfeld show. And I said, but you haven't. You didn't see much of it. And so she said, that's okay. She called up, she said, and she had the client on the phone, said, I saw the most wonderful thing and it's going to be the only thing people are going to be talking about. And it was just the very first outfit that she had seen before she got tossed out. And Lee Rudd and I climbed through the window of the ladies room in another in a hotel so we could steal seats.

[Interviewer/Co-host]

You predicted so many fashions. I came across this wonderful article from, I think 1990, which I just love because this is such a prime example of what you were doing. You are quoted as saying that 90s fashion is going to be simpler, more refined. You talk about shrinking shoulder pads and the disappearance of the shoulder pad. And then you talk about pretty plaids, summer tartans and knit dressing. And mind you, this is 1990s, so the 90s fashion hasn't happened yet, but all of those things would come to fruition throughout the 90s. So I think that's such a perfect example of what you did as a.

[David Wolf]

Trend forecaster like John Galliano and Marc Jacobs and those kind of people were like the crescendo of the trending trend. Wonderful golden moment. And I'm so glad I was there, so glad I was a part of it because I believed in it.

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[April Callahan]

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[David Wolf]

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[Interviewer/Co-host]

You've lived an incredible life, David. You had your finger on the pulse of fashion for some 60 years. I thank you so much for being here today. I cannot let you go, however, without talking to me about your incredible work as a paper doll artist. We talked a little bit about you playing with paper dolls as a young boy and now you are a paper doll artist yourself. You have a wonderful website, paper dollywood.com. it's such a treat to go over there. It's a gold mine of paper dolls and then also a rabbit hole that I, I got swept into because you have all these wonderful blog posts explaining all of your paper dolls. So can you tell us about how you came to this art form and what inspires you to create?

[David Wolf]

Oh, absolutely. I was visiting a friend in Chicago. I've always bought, you know, coffee table books about fashion and stuff. So I, I like paper things. And he found an estate sale that was being given. An obviously gay man had passed away and that an enormous collection of books and magazines and paper dolls. And this friend that I was staying with in Chicago remembered that I had talked about my cousin Lois's paper doll collection and I said I would love to go to this auction, see what is there. And it was phenomenal and it was strange. And I met people as a collectors and discovered that they were so nice, they were not like people in the fashion industry at all. And they were, you know, wonderful little blue haired, little old ladies who lived in trailers but like beautiful clothes and old movies and things. So I bought a sizable amount of vintage paper dolls that I could study and see what made them seem so magical to me. And because they're rendered so beautifully. And I was at like my second convention for the paper doll community national convention in Rhode island and I met a young woman who had a little company that she did her research and found old vintage paper doll books whose copyright had not been renewed so she could reprint them. And I thought that was doing a service so that we could all have these paper dolls that were so rare. And I said, why don't you have today's artists do them? And she said, oh well, I couldn't pay enough money and I said, well, I'll do it for nothing. I hadn't been illustrating for years and wanted to do it again. And so she started the company and she's now called Paper Studio Press. And she's like the biggest publisher of paper doll books. And she and I became best friends. And she's wacky. And as everyone in the paper doll world is so such kind and gentle people. And I've had such good times. Her name is Jenny Talian Doros, and we've traveled together, we've run paper doll conventions together because they happen once a year. And because of the virus, they've been shut down for a couple years. And I'm probably getting too old to go to the convention, but I'll hear all the dials in Berkshire and there's so much of it, the paper doll world. But it was. What I found wonderful about it is the meeting of stars. Like Margaret o' Brien came to one of the paper doll conventions and we chatted and she told me about, you know, her life at the MGM Studio school with Elizabeth Taylor and Mickey Rooney and people like that. So that. That was fun. But we always have to get authorization from the celebrity or the celebrities estate. And like, some celebrities don't want to be paper dolls. Like Mary Tyler Moore does not want to be a paper doll.

[Interviewer/Co-host]

What I feel like that would be the greatest honor of my life if someone made me a paper doll. That's so amazing.

[David Wolf]

Jenny and I went to meet Phyllis Diller when we got permission to do her paper doll book, which is one of my favorites, I think, because she told us we could use her comedy, her jokes to write between clothes. And so we went and she lives in a mansion in Los Angeles. Well, not any longer. She's dead. She's dead, isn't she? I just keep saying that about so many people. I think it. I think death must be a trend.

[Interviewer/Co-host]

But you've immortalized so many of them in these wonderful artistic renderings.

[David Wolf]

Yes.

[Interviewer/Co-host]

Do you have any favorite paper dolls that you've. You said Phyllis Diller.

[David Wolf]

I love Forest Day. And one of the reasons I love her is that my publisher has sold 98,000 copies of her book.

[Interviewer/Co-host]

Wow.

[David Wolf]

Yeah. So how can I not love her? I've never met her, but we've talked on the phone.

[Interviewer/Co-host]

98,000 paper doll books.

[David Wolf]

Yes.

[Interviewer/Co-host]

Wow. Wow. Well, I know our listeners are going to immediately go on to this website and order some of your wonderful paper dolls. They're so enchanting. And I just love that in so many ways it's like you've connected with this younger David. Right. Who had to hide your paper dolls and now you're this famous paper doll artist. I just love it. It's such a wonderful, wonderful trajectory to see with your life and knowing what we know about your career and where fashion took you. It's so wonderful that you've returned to paper dolls after all this time.

[David Wolf]

Yeah. The only thing we certainly haven't talked about is four most important people in my life are my children. And one of them is especially close to me, my daughter Amanda, who loves you. And I'm supposed to say hello to you.

[Interviewer/Co-host]

Oh, tell her hello.

[David Wolf]

And she has a website called the Ultimate Fashion History.

[April Callahan]

Oh, that's wonderful.

[Interviewer/Co-host]

So you inspired her, no doubt, her love of fashion.

[David Wolf]

Yes. And I have a son, Zachary, who lives in West Palm beach and is terrific, was a Desert Storm soldier during the war. And my two stepdaughters, who are now sweet little old ladies who live in Florida, do all the kids several times a week.

[April Callahan]

Oh, that's wonderful.

[Interviewer/Co-host]

Well, thank you so much, David. This has been a real treat. I thank you so much for taking the time to talk to me. Thank you to your wonderful husband Francisco for setting this up for us. And yeah, this has just been absolutely wonderful.

[Cassidy Zachary]

David, this was amazing. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for joining us. And may I just remark what a, an incredible, remarkable career you have had.

[Interviewer/Co-host]

I know, April.

[April Callahan]

And for one person to have experienced and influenced so many different facets of the fashion industry is truly incredible. And as promised, I tracked down David's front page 1964 article in Ohio's newspaper, the Plain Dealer, entitled 5000 at Theater. Beatle Maniacs Mob male fan. David, as our listeners know from this interview, was that male fan.

[Interviewer/Co-host]

Sure enough, there's David in suit and.

[April Callahan]

Tie, smiling face with his unmistakable beetle haircut. And this was apparently quite the scene, as the article attests to. They interviewed one girl who had mobbed and kissed David, and she says, I couldn't help myself. You just looked so much like them, I had to kiss you.

[Interviewer/Co-host]

David, thank you, kid, for being so.

[April Callahan]

Generous with your time and stories from your life lived in fashion dress.

[Cassidy Zachary]

Listeners, you're definitely going to want to head over to paper dollywood.com, that's Dollywood with a D to check out David's stunning array of paper dolls featuring the who's who of our favorite Hollywood royalty, including Marlene Dietrich, Josephine Baker, Marilyn Monroe, and oh, so many more. And he has also written up wonderful bios about his all star cast of women. So be sure to check that out as well.

[April Callahan]

Yeah. And of course we'll be sure and put links to David's work in our show notes, including his trend forecasting website. And you'll also find find a link to that Decoder Ring podcast episode I mentioned earlier. It's a much more in depth and insightful look at David's relationship to paper dolls and I highly, highly recommend it.

[Cassidy Zachary]

I think that does it for us today. Dress listeners. May you dream of the paper doll versions of your life and wardrobe. Next time you get dressed.

[David Wolf]

Please head.

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[Interviewer/Co-host]

And remember, we always love hearing from.

[Podcast Host/Announcer]

You, so if you'd like to write to us, you can do so@hello dressedhistory.com dressedhistory.com is also our website where you can sign up for our monthly newsletter, our in person tours and online fashion history courses. And you can check out whatever else we have up our finely tailored sleeves.

[Sponsor Voice]

We get so many questions from you all about our recommendations for fashion history books, so if you are interested you can always find a link in our show notes to our Bookshop Bookshelf. So that address is bookshop.org shop dressed and there you can find over 150 of our favorite fashion history titles.

[Podcast Host/Announcer]

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[Interviewer/Co-host]

Thank you as always for tuning in.

[Podcast Host/Announcer]

And more dressed coming your way very soon. The History of Fashion is a production of Dressed Media.

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[Jackson Hewitt Advertiser]

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