Wearable & Salable

On their pre-spring shopping spree, more than 4,400 buyers went to Manhattan last week, saw the new 1960 fashions--and were conquered. Eagerly they hustled up and down from one S.R.O. showroom to another in Manhattan's garment district, where as many as 45 showings per day crammed the schedule. The designers played up what the fashion buffs call "wearability" (sensible clothes that fit in pretty well with any style or season) and "packability" (fresh emphasis on lightweight and non-crush, drip-dry convenience fabrics). There was a smart swing to dresses made from printed scarf material, dresses with matching jackets, and two-layer "tunics," i.e., a sheath ending above the knee, with a longer sheath of matching or different color underneath. There was a slim look in hats, a chunky look in jewelry and a gentle look in the spring colors--notably beige, bone and white.

What designers had up their big sleeves was a silhouette that defied a name. Some dubbed it the "Easy Look," others the "Airlift Look," still others the "Dragonfly Look." It accented huge, winglike sleeves and a wandering waistline. Designer Ceil Chapman's funnel-sleeved line highlighted the "pyramid waist," high in front and low in back. Designers Norman Norell and James Galanos achieved the long-torso effect by dropping the waistline well down to the hip. Designers expect that the wandering waistline will make women's figures look slimmer. Manufacturers expect that it will fatten retail-sales figures, which now top $10 billion a year for women's wear.

Last week fashion houses wrote orders at the fastest clip since the era when the "New Look" dropped skirts more than a decade ago. Buyers were loading up because all signs point to a banner year, e.g., December business set records and January department-store sales are running 9% ahead of the year-ago rate. Some of the freest spenders in Manhattan came from cities that the steel-strike settlement helped most--Pittsburgh, Youngstown, Cleveland, Birmingham, Detroit. "The buyers have a lot of money, and they are spending it like mad," said Felix Lilienthal Jr., president of a company that buys for stores with total sales of $850 million. "They are also trading up, buying better merchandise."

Stores will stress high fashion rather than low price in their spring promotions. "What women want these days is quality," said Merchandising Manager Sophy Tepperman to out-of-town buyers. But women--and their husbands--have to pay the price for it. "You just can't expect to find the same quality in a $29.95 dress as you did five years ago." Between the price upcreep and the new desire for better things, retailers expect first-half sales to rise about 7%.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.