Suits That Suit

"They are walking right out of the store--they are going out as fast as we can get them in" says Geraldine Stutz, president of Manhattan's Henri Bendel. She is talking about women's pants suits, the fashion rage of the season.

Nor are the pants suits simply walking straight to the nearest discotheque. Chicago Socialite Mrs. Charles F. Murphy Jr. wore her blue-plaid Dior--New York pants suit to a women's luncheon, found she felt "quite chic and elegant." Pamela Tiffin, the bitch in Dinner at Eight, showed up at Manhattan's Ground Floor restaurant wearing her beige, green and pink Tiziani suit. Marion Javits, wife of the New York Senator, entertains in a shocking pink Adele Simpson suit. Jacqueline Kennedy has ordered a beige-and-white wool suit from Valentino; Barbara Paley, wife of CBS Chairman William S. Paley, has ordered hers in black velvet.

Seating the Suit. This does not mean that pants suits are as yet right for all places and occasions. Designer Norman Norell insists that his styles are for travel, the country or at home. Manhattan Socialite Louise Savitt, who owns a Norell pants suit for evening, still hesitates to don it unless she is sure that "two other women will be wearing them; I hate to stand out." Even those happy to be conspicuous are well advised to check before sallying forth. Last week Actress Susannah York, who packed along for her New York trip four pants suits from London's Foale & Tuffin, found herself barred from lunch at the Colony when she showed up wearing one, later came back repentant in a dress.

In fact, the novelty of having women appear in pants suits has headwaiters across the country in a swither. Chicago's Maxim's and Manhattan's "21," for instance, maintain a rigid ban, while other top restaurants allow them, provided that the suits are sufficiently dressy. Beverly Hills Restaurateur Steven Crane (the SCAM, the Luau, plus a chain extending to seven other cities) recently called a summit meeting to set national policy. His guideline: if the whole party is sufficiently "cocktailly" or black tie, the pants suits get seated.

Changes Beyond Belief. Those women who own them now swear by them. Their appeal is based, first of all, on comfort. Short skirts have made even knee crossing an ordeal; pants allow lounging any old way. Nancy Sinatra, who owns half a dozen pants suits, thinks they are ideal for traveling and shopping --as well as dancing. Says she: "I practically live in them." Sandra Dee sees nothing incongruous about wearing them as she rides about Los Angeles in her Rolls. Wellesley Senior Chris Godfrey finds them the perfect outfit when gallants pick her up for a date on a motorcycle. Radcliffe Junior Peggy Auchincloss thinks that "they will solve the problem of freezing at football games."

Variety, too, contributes to the vogue. Whereas men, in 150 years of pants wearing, have managed to add little more than cuffs and a crease, women in the past few years have rung changes beyond belief. Trousers come belled or straight, hip hugging or waist level. Materials range from daytime wool, gabardine or leather to evening silk, velvet, lame and brocade. Jackets are single-or double-breasted, come to the hips, to the top of the thighs, to the knees.

From Armor to Albatross. Pants suits still meet resistance from males who feel that a masculine prerogative has been suborned. Not that pants cannot be sexy; they are, after all, the costume of the harem. Nor are precedents lacking: one of Joan of Arc's first requests to the Dauphin was permission to don man's armor. Sweden's Queen Christina gloried in pants, as did Novelist George Sand. Brigitte Bardot has been stuffing herself into blue jeans for a decade; and today slacks are the starlet's uniform.

Where the rub lies is not with the style but the figure beneath. In suits, hourglass figures turn dumpy, short girls appear midgeted. If the suit is too tight, it bunches embarrassingly; too loose, and the wearer looks like Mary Martin in a sailor suit. The triumphs, when they are turned out, reflect both the high level of tailoring now common in feminine fashion and the trim figures of today's health-conscious women. What remains in doubt is whether pants suits will stay around long enough to produce classics. The very quality of daring that at the moment makes them so tempting may yet be their downfall: a classic evening gown is good for seasons on end; already the sequined evening suit is so conspicuous that it has begun to hang like an albatross by the third wearing.

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