From the Editor: In the magazine business, you like to think you have a "theme" for every issue- some idea that ties the whole thing together, like our recent Frank Lloyd Wright issue. Until just the other day, I didn't think we really had a theme for this one, because the stories we were enthusiastic about didn't seem to have a common thread. But the other day was that day that comes in March after much too much waiting- that day when the air may still be cool, but the sun is warm. Suddenly, you see daffodils, and forsythia, and that green blush on the trees that says Spring is revving up for a new beginning after the cold, damp, dreary days of Winter. And new beginnings are what I see in this issue- breaking free of the past and starting over, with design. We have several articles about Palm Springs, where architects declared the stucco-and-tile heaviness of old California dead, giving tradition a firm kick in the pants. There's an article about German Modernist china, a Bauhausian turning-away from platinum trimmings and painted cabbage roses on dinner tables everywhere. There's even a story about Modernist influences on costume design in classic Hollywood movies. Long before makeovers became extreme, designers and stylists in Tinseltown were using line, ornament, color and illusion to turn ordinary women into goddesses. So that's what this one is about- about how you can streamline, simplify, un-clutter, and banish. Your house will look better. You'll look better. It'll be a new beginning, every time you re-design yourself and your world. Sandy McLendon Editor-In-Chief www.jetsetmodern.com danemod@netscape.com