Whoever said that bold romantic gestures are a thing of the past? Juice Joint Coaching client Stephen Sass is proof that creativity, passion, and romantic possibility are alive and well. Stephen lives in San Francisco and a man he admires lives near Treviso, Italy, where a design contest open to both professionals and amateurs is held once every two years.  This year's challenge was to design a fully functional but innovative article of clothing. He says, “At first I balked, since the only time I have ever sewed was during a required quarter of Home Economics in seventh grade, and even then Miss Stephens had to finish my tie for me”.

Then, Stephen had an intriguing idea and forged ahead despite the odds of success and the distance. He explains, “My Italian friend is a fan of Prince, and a favorite song is ‘Pink Cashmere,’ which repeats the lyric ‘I'm making you a coat of pink cashmere . . . .’  So my idea was to make the coat of pink cashmere from Cashmere Bouquet soap wrappers”. Now that’s romantic inspiration!

He knew better than to try this enterprise on his own, however, and felt he could succeed with the help of his immediate community.  So "with encouragement  from Gael, my tailor, shopping advice from friend Kathryn and the very close supervision of Kerry, my friend, neighbor and sewing veteran upstairs, I completed the task in one week (after months of research and repeated phone calls to Colgate-Palmolive), with the sewing done in two days”. When you’re smitten, you’ll move mountains to let everyone know.

Within hours after finishing it, Stephen had to ship his creation via express delivery to Italy in order to meet the deadline. The Coat of Pink Cashmere is now included in the Depop exhibition during the last two weeks of June.  “Prizes will be awarded for originality, beauty, and innovation”, he notes, but we know that the real prize has already been won -- he found a previously untapped wellspring of resourcefulness that led to this novel expression.

Congratulations Stephen for creating such a beautiful and unusual object, and thank you for your courage and determination shown by this bold romantic gesture! I wish you all the best, and I know that you are gratified by generously expressing your feelings regardless of the outcome.

Special note: Thanks to Glide for accepting hundreds of unwrapped mini-soaps as a donation to its homeless program.