Mondays on Memory Lane: 1987 JOAN COLLINS SELLS HER PANTIES AT MAXIM’S – Torrid headline, but true. Joan has added her name to many products over the years and in 1987 she launched a line of lingerie, promoted by SanMark Stardust and it was sold in stores such as Jordan Marsh, Emporium and Bon Marche, as well as K-Mart, Target and Shop-co. A diverse range of items were produced including ranges of sleepwear, lounge-wear and day-wear, in colors ranging from Red to Black and of course Pink. The line sold for between $8 to $35 and Joan appeared in print and TV ads to promote the line. The big launch party was at posh Maxim’s. Sadly after it’s fall launch and good sales it was gone by the following summer. (Maxim’s was only open in New York from 1985 to 2000).

Joan was still at the height of the Dynasty craze which ran from 1981 to 1989, I was a rabid, addicted die-hard fan, forget Dallas! Dy-Nasty had bitchy, dressy, classy Joan Collins! I have (somewhere buried) every episode on VHS tape, with the commercials!).

So – when it was announced Joan was launching her lingerie line at legendary Parisian bistro Maxim’s on Park Avenue in  New York, I had to go! By great luck, a co-worker of mine at the time had a press pass he let me borrow, and I wound up having front row access to  Joan. I have about 3 dozen photos of the event.

 

Tomorrow night 26 years later, Joan Collins is making a very rare one night appearance with her one woman life story show at BB King’s Jazz Club on 42nd Street in New York. Despite the fact that it will be election night, my good friend Susan Godwin (who worships Joan) and I are running to see her. Hopefully she will sign some of my memorabilia!