This silk and viscose Tamotsu suit is from the mid-1990s.

By Pam Sander
Storyteller and LaMonaGirl Shops owner

A few weeks ago, I fell in love with Tamotsu — before I even knew his last name or that he had designed suits for a First Lady, a TV news journalist, and a comedianne.

I was introduced to the Gazebo Tamotsu New York label by my daughter, Leah. She had found the Tamotsu red, textured skirt suit during a therapy session at a thrift store.

The quality of the material and the cut of the fabric told me this was special. The label itself was artwork, as the best vintage is. It was red but minimalist. Silky and lightweight. A woman in charge of her world.

Once I found Tamotsu’s last name, Toda, Ancestry.com led me to a New York Times obituary published in 2013.

Tamotsu Toda fell in love with America in the 1960s on a visit to New York after graduating from a Toyko design school. I’ve come across so many people in my fashion studies who immigrated to the United States and made it a better place. He was certainly one of those blessings. But that’s a topic for another blog post, once you know me better.

Out of his tiny apartment on the West Side, Tamotsu made clothes for his friends and took classes at the Fashion Institute of Technology. One of those friends in his jumpsuit was spotted by Linda Friedman Schmidt, who owned the swanky women’s store Lonia, on West 55th Street. She just had to have one for herself – and more for her customers.

“The jumpsuit was a tailored, collared, button-front style with two decorative patch pockets on the chest, and roll up sleeves. There was a sash to belt it around the waist,” she said, describing it so vividly all these years later.

Linda then became Tamotsu’s first order and a lifelong friend and business mentor. Her connections brought Karl Lagerfeld via Elizabeth Arden to his door. Then Ann Taylor came calling. He realized many women who had joined the workforce were still making their own clothes, so he also created career patterns for Vogue Collections.

Tamotsu was a dream for women trying to get their foot in a business door, any business door, in the 1970s and ‘80s, and in many cases, women who did not wear a Size 2. Skirt suits, blazers, trousers, jumpsuits that were elegant yet understated.

The red suit in my LaMonaGirl Shops is from about 1994, when he introduced silk and viscose to his line. That’s also about the time First Lady Hillary Clinton came calling. And Good Morning America host Joan Lunden. And Rosie O’Donnell.

I don’t know Rosie’s or Joan’s size, but the Internet allows Hillary no secrets. She was a size 8 in the mid-’90s. Just like my suit. For many reasons, it’s likely not Hillary’s, but I’m certain it was previously loved by a woman in power.