Nudity Plus

"If I bare the back any more," says Seventh Avenue Designer Chester Weinberg, "I may be jailed." He exaggerates but little: the backs of some of his latest dresses are cut away right down to the coccyx. Weinberg's flirtation with the lower limits of modesty only makes him one of the crowd. Rarely have so many designers been so intent on uncovering so much; and as a result, fashions this summer will be the breeziest and barest in memory.

Diahann Carroll offered television watchers a sneak preview of what is to come when she appeared in last week's Academy Awards show in Arnold Scaasi's gown with a V neck cut extraordinarily low, wide and handsome. Vogue readers have already been treated to a full-page photo of Young Model Penelope Tree wearing Yves St. Laurent's sheer organza see-through blouse with nothing underneath it. "It's the hottest thing we've had for years," says Bernard Goodman, vice president of Sport-whirl, which has sold 80,000 of its Jeanne Campbell-designed see-through blouses so far this year.

13 Feet of String. Bare midriffs abound. Adele Simpson, who likes to hitch together the top and bottom of her bare-midriff dresses with gold chains, says, "Women want their bodies to speak after they have gone in for the exercise, the massage, the diet. They also want to show off another thing they have been working all day on--their tan." For James Galanos, the bare midriff means skimpy bra tops worn with long evening skirts. Bare midriffs are also fine by Mollie Parnis, who links together the bra tops with silk knots or a big ring. Donald Brooks adds demure long sleeves and a high neckline to focus more attention on his bare midriffs, which expose a good ten inches of tummy and torso.

Among the sexiest of the new bare fashions are the clinging mat-jersey creations of Nan Herzlinger, 36, who has been designing on Seventh Avenue for just three years. Whether it be a purple-bloomer at-home costume or a short white cocktail dress, she slashes the neck well below the bustline and the back even lower, laces the precarious bodice together by wrapping it with 13 feet of jersey string. The seductive effect is straight out of a seraglio.

Dulled Senses. Such is the mood for nude that Rudi Gernreich, whose chiffon see-through blouse was greeted by cries of outrage in 1964, is confidently planning to try it again this fall, attaching it to tweed skirts. "This time," predicts Gernreich, "it will be received without shock. The bare-bosom look certainly isn't totally accepted yet, but in another five years it will be."

Perhaps. But men-about-town who have already seen the see-through blouse at private cocktail and dinner parties report that, while the first encounter is a head-snapper, repeated exposure dulls the senses. After a few summers of bareness, the most enticing woman a few seasons hence may well turn out to be the one cloaked head to foot in a shapeless North African djellaba.

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