The Word Is Chemise

Swarming into Paris last week for the spring collections, fashion writers and buyers had a single sentimental question: How would the house of Dior do without Dior? It hardly seemed possible that shy, spectacled Yves Saint-Laurent, only 21, would have the master's touch. But after weeks of work and a $200,000 outlay, Saint-Laurent was more than ready.

In the crystal-chandeliered salon, the press was dead silent as the first model swirled in, wearing a sprig of Dior's favorite flower, lily of the valley, on her suit. But as the third model sashayed out, sudden applause for the new Dior line crashed through the cream-and-gilt rooms. It kept up for two more hours and 175 more models. Cries of "bravo, bravo!" broke out at the finale, a model marching by in a bridal gown. When Saint-Laurent himself appeared, mothered by his two weeping associates, Mme. Raymonde and Mme. Marguerite, the blushing youth was mobbed. Reporters squeezed his hand, kissed his cheeks, pushed him to an outside balcony, where he waved royally to a cheering crowd below.

Even the world's sharp-eyed buyers, no wasters of emotion, though they loved Dior, rose as one to give Saint-Laurent a standing ovation. "One of the great Dior collections," exulted Bergdorf Goodman's Andrew Goodman. Said astute Marie-Louise Bousquet, Harper's Bazaar's oldest Paris hand: "If the colossus of Dior had crumbled, it would have shaken French fashion to its foundations."

What caused the fuss was Saint-Laurent's "trapeze line": narrow shoulders, shaped bodice and a loose flow with an easy swing ("trapeze") from solar plexus to kneecaps. Like such other top designers as Guy Laroche, Jean Desses and Lanvin-Castillo, who showed their wares last week, Saint-Laurent has gone to work on the billowy, knee-hobbling chemise-sack dress, the first big change in female fashions since the New Look in 1947. Some made it slimmer, some wider, most flared the hemline and shortened it until it barely covers the knees. Fashion writers hailed Saint-Laurent for bringing a new feminine dimension to the sack.

In the U.S. the tentlike version of the sack, along with the better-fitting chemise, is selling well among women below 30 and under size 14. Some stores claim that it comprises 50% of their stock. "It may look like hell on a hanger," says a Dallas retailer, "but get it on 'em and they love it because it's so comfortable!" But many shapely women shun it, say it is a fad as well as a fraud despite its "subtle sexiness." Less shapely women find they look even sadder in a sack.

U.S. retailers hardly care what version the sack comes in or what it's called. With the dress business down, they only hope it stays. "We're glad for controversy," said a Seattle buyer. "It's a tremendous boost for business."

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