The Challenge of Inner Space

By Michael Demarest

For ever expanding wardrobes, superclosets are the answer you polled every woman in U.S.," says Dallas Socialite Sharon McCutchin, "you would not find one who has enough closet space." Furthermore, she observes, "every man in the country complains that his wife takes up all the closet space." Her husband. Oil and Real Estate Investor Jerry, obviously agrees. In the course of remodeling their mansion, which sits on 50 acres of prime Dallas real estate, McCutchin is creating what she envisions as the ultimate closet. The two-room supersanctum will have marble floors, skylights, a fireplace, a room for alterations, a rotating conveyor rack that can hold 400 garments and storage areas.

"The part where my hanging clothes will be is as big as some one-bedroom apartments [more than 1,000 sq. ft.]," she notes. "There are shoe and bag rooms with enough space for 300 pairs of shoes and 400 handbags." Before moving in the clothes, she plans to throw a "coming out of the closet" party for 100--in the closet.

Wealthy women are making 'closet liberation a cause that has almost universal support from husbands. While his wife Grace was off for two weeks on their yacht Gracara, Novelist Harold Robbins (Spellbinder) hired an engineer friend to design an automated clothes conveyor that could display her wardrobe at the touch of a button. "Before I installed this carrousel, we couldn't even find the dogs," cracks Robbins. "None of our cooks would stay. My wife's clothes filled up all their closets too." Though the new arrangement accommodates 700 garments, it holds only evening dresses, resort wear and luncheon clothes. The overflow still fills the help's closets.

In most superclosets, clothes are organized according to occasion, length, season, color, with separate areas for shoes, hats, handbags and furs (which ideally are kept under refrigeration). The revolving racks favored by most closetologists are adapted from those used by dry-cleaning shops. They can be oblong, E-, U-or L-shaped, any length space permits, and expensive. The Robbins' system cost $3,500 plus labor. A simpler approach was taken by Comedian Phyllis Diller, who took over a 23-ft. by 14-ft. guest bedroom and filled it with movable racks like those used in the garment industry. The closet looks like a secondhand clothing store but has room for Diller's private wardrobe, every costume she has worn in every move she has been in since 1965, 44 furs and f our nose warmers.

Some reformers may recoup part of the expense because they no longer buy duplicates of clothes they already own but cannot find. One of the most popular layouts was designed by New Yorker Anita Bayer. Lyricist Carole Bayer Sager, her daughter, and husband Composer Burt Bacharach all have one in their Beverly Hills home. Sager calls it "functional and economical." The hangers swing back and forth, allowing the Bacharachs to view their entire wardrobes. Closet keeping becomes a science with Dani Needham, wife of Film Director Hal Needham. On the road more often than not, she carries a little book that lists every item in her closet by number. She explains, "If I'm in Paris and I find a purple suit that I want to buy, then I need a lavender blouse. So I look in my book to see if I have one. If I do, I call the housekeeper and have her send blouse No. 43."

The biggest closet may belong to Carolyn Farb. ex-wife of a Houston real estate tycoon, who has devoted six rooms to the care and storage of her $750,000-plus wardrobe. Among Hollywood closet queens, Zsa Zsa Gabor probably reigns supreme with a system that "many people say is bigger than Paramount's wardrobe department." Charlotte Ford hired New York Expert Mario Buatta to design her new closet with printed fabric resembling Matisse motifs, but she still hangs an overflow elsewhere in the apartment. In another Buatta supercloset. Author Hannah Pakula has installed a chaise longue, an exercise machine and several other comforts. The author spends many hours reading and writing in her clothes-lined retreat. This way may lie a new departure in fashion: clothes to wear in the closet. --By MichaelDemarest. Reported by Mark Seal/Dallas and Tara Weingarten/Los Angeles

With reporting by Mark Seal, Tara Weingarten