What Women Want

What do American women want for the $4 billion a year they spend on clothes? To find out, Manhattan's elegant Bergdorf Goodman sent detailed questionnaires to 7,000 New York housewives, career women, debutantes and students picked from the roster of a mailing-list firm. The 1.542 replies sent a storm of controversy whistling through the salons and cutting rooms of the sensitive women's-wear industry.

Chief objection of the women customers is the industry's topsy-turvy custom of offering June's clothes in January,

January's in June. Cried one anguished woman: "Never in season can one find the clothes one needs. Bathing suits in July --never! Winter cocktail clothes after Christmas--never! You lose valuable trade because you do not cater to people when they need things." For this, manufacturers last week blamed the department stores: "The store buyer doesn't think ahead. If it's a cold spring, she gets panicky, concentrates on getting rid of what she had, and won't reorder fresh stock early." The stores blamed manufacturers: "Try to reorder anything in May. The manufacturers don't think ahead.

They order only enough fabric to cover our first orders."

Here and there, however, signs cropped up last week that the customer criticisms were having some effect. Three top bathing-suit makers--Cole of California, Jantzen, Rose Marie Reid--reported that some New York stores had agreed to carry a complete line of swim suits to Aug. I instead of closing out after July 4. On the Fourth, Bergdorf defied usual custom, boldly featured several window displays of bathing suits.

Hats That Stay. The questionnaire turned up other criticisms. Overwhelmingly, the women reported that it was practically impossible to find the basic, simple black dress that "isn't too hot in New York and can be worn morning through evening." They wanted blouses with "plenty of tail" that won't pull out of skirts, cottons that need no ironing, "hats that stay put." They disdained frills and gewgaws in favor of "simple, good classic lines," "feminine but not frilly romantic clothes."

One business woman who rides subways five days a week said: "We'd love dark cottons for summer--no white trim to get dirty long before the dress." Another pleaded for a "good girdle to work in, not requiring stockings." They suggested "stores arranged so that all coats are on one floor, same for dresses and suits. It's a nuisance running from one price-range department to another--always have a feeling you haven't seen everything."

Slacks That Slack. There was a long list of pet peeves: the big "buckety-baskety hats," "slacks that are too slack in the rear," sheath skirts "that make it so awkward to get in or out of taxis," dresses with petticoats that wilt after the first washing, the "no-ironing" synthetic fabrics that do need ironing, white collars and cuffs that are not detachable, the store that advertises a dress on Sunday and is "out of it" on Monday.

Most heartfelt gripe: store help that doesn't. The customers described sales clerks as "high-pressure, pseudo-snobs, impolite, disinterested," complained that they either "act like leeches or ignore you." Singled out for special mention were saleswomen who "call you 'dearie,' have a superior attitude when you ask for something a little cheaper, or say: 'But madam, it's the fashion; everyone is wearing it.' "

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