Albert Who?

Jackie had Oleg Cassini. Lady Bird had Mollie Parnis and Adele Simpson. Betty Ford has Albert Capraro.

Capraro is a Manhattan-born designer who went into business last July after eight years as an assistant to Oscar de la Renta, and at 31 he is still relatively little known in the fashion industry. He was in his Manhattan office in January sketching some shorts and sun dresses for his summer collection when the phone rang: the White House. Betty Ford had noticed some of his designs in the Washington Star-News and wanted him to fly down to the capital to discuss his making clothes for her.

Since then, Capraro has become the First Lady's favorite designer. Susan Ford too has been hooked. Last week Capraro was hard at work sketching a long white gown for Susan to wear in May when she will appear as queen of the Apple Blossom Festival in Winchester, Va.

His clothes are theatrical, even storybook: elaborate ruffles and sashes, billowing long skirts and dramatic dolman sleeves. For fabrics, Capraro favors see-through eyelets, misty flowered voiles, and chiffons. "Clothes," he says, "should be mysterious, sexy and feminine." He claims to be an "incurable romantic" and recalls that he has sat through Gone With the Wind 35 times (which hardly qualifies him as a romantic). He gets fashion inspirations from Impressionist art and some of his dresses could be (more or less) out of a Renoir painting.

But he does not charge Renoir prices. His ready-to-wear numbers sell for less than $90; his gowns retail for under $200. It was these prices that first caught Mrs. Ford's thrifty eye. "My clothes budget is not large," she cautioned Capraro on his first visit. To give him some idea of her taste, she pulled from her closets "a gray thing that I've loved." "Why, that's mine," said Capraro, recognizing a skirt-and-sweater outfit trimmed with feathers that he had designed while working for De la Renta. Delighted, Mrs. Ford selected twelve outfits from Capraro's regular spring line and also asked him to create five gowns for state dinners, using fabrics that the President had brought home from Japan. "There are some clothes that look great on the runway, but you can't wear them," explains Betty Ford. "Albert's clothes are things women can really wear. They are practical, but they are pretty and very feminine."

A bachelor who sports what he calls a "Renaissance beard," Capraro has spent many hours with the Fords. During one White House visit, he was with the President for nearly 20 minutes as Ford approvingly fingered some dresses Capraro had brought for Mrs. Ford and Susan. Eying a halter dress with a plunging neckline for Susan, the President jokingly asked: "Don't you think that's a bit risque?" But, says Capraro, the President never asked about prices.

Since word about Capraro's latest customer spread, business has picked up nicely for his firm, Jerry Guttenberg, Ltd.* The publicity is likely to continue. After trying on dress after dress in his Manhattan showroom last month, Susan Ford whirled around and sighed: "Oh, Albert. When I get married, you will design my wedding dress."

* Capraro is one of three partners

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