Why Mrs. Reagan Still Looks Like a Million

By Ed Magnuson

Nancy Reagan's fondness for designer couture that she once contended was beyond her ability to buy has not abated. Mrs. Reagan has been borrowing costly dresses, matched outfits and jewelry from leading fashion houses on both coasts on a lavish scale. This despite her public promise in February 1982 that she would stop the practice, after her acceptance of such fancy items posed a political problem for the White House.

Any expensive clothing given as a gift to Mrs. Reagan must be listed on annual financial disclosure forms required of federal officials under the 1978 Ethics in Government Act. President Reagan would be required to list any such gifts to his wife. Their value may also have to be reported on federal income tax returns. Furthermore, White House lawyers agreed in 1982 that any of the First Lady's dresses that she considered loans, not gifts, would be reported annually under the ethics law. Neither the disclosure forms nor the Reagan tax returns for the years 1982 through 1987 list loans or gifts of dresses to Mrs. Reagan.

If she had paid for all the finery, the First Lady would, of course, have no need to report her purchases. Elaine Crispen, Mrs. Reagan's press secretary, said last week that the First Lady told her she has bought all the clothes she has worn since early 1982. Mrs. Reagan also told Crispen that since then she has not borrowed or been given any dresses.

Some designers, however, have a different recollection. While agreeing that Mrs. Reagan has purchased many items, they say she has definitely borrowed others and has not returned all of them. Los Angeles designer David Hayes said Mrs. Reagan has borrowed 60 to 80 expensive, made-to-order outfits from him in the past eight years. "We think of it as loans," he says. "It's wonderful. She has been a sensation for my business." Hayes said the First Lady has returned more than half of the borrowed items but has kept the others. "Once something is worn," he said, its value is "nothing." Mrs. Reagan, said Hayes, is "never greedy. She only takes what she can use."

Two sources close to the fashion firm of James Galanos also say Mrs. Reagan has continued to borrow dresses. "If it's something she needs to borrow, she does borrow, but otherwise she buys," said Pat Jones, an assistant to Galanos. Chris Blazakis, who worked closely with Galanos since 1982 and was executive vice president of Galanos Originals from 1983 until 1985, insists that Galanos had told him that Mrs. Reagan generally did not pay for dresses and that the only time she returned one was when she wanted it repaired. Blazakis, who left the Galanos firm on friendly terms, has done extensive research for a critical book he is writing about the Reagans, including the First Lady's clothes-borrowing practices.

In November 1984, Blazakis said, Galanos asked the First Lady to select one of two fur jackets to go with the second Inaugural gown he was designing for her. One was a $10,500 white mink, the other a $35,000 Russian sable. According to Blazakis, Nancy had wanted to keep both. Galanos persuaded her that the American mink would be more appropriate and did not give her the sable. Mrs. Reagan, however, did not wear the mink to the Inaugural. Crispen last week said that Mrs. Reagan recalls borrowing the jacket and wearing it once, then returning it sometime later.

An executive at Manhattan's Harry Winston jewelers confirms that Mrs. Reagan has continued to borrow expensive accessories, even though there had been some White House embarrassment in 1981 at disclosures that Winston had given her a | diamond necklace and diamond earrings for the first Inaugural Ball. At retail, the combination would be worth about $480,000. "At times Mrs. Reagan has borrowed items," this source says. "She has worn on other occasions -- but not in America -- a pair of diamond earrings that are $800,000 with ten-carat drops."

Ronald Winston, son of the founder, last week did not deny these borrowings but insisted that there was "no ongoing program" of loans to Mrs. Reagan. Crispen also said there was "no ongoing program" of jewelry loans, contending that 1981 was the last occasion of such a loan to Mrs. Reagan.

If Mrs. Reagan has purchased all the designer clothes she has worn in the past seven years, that would be not only a considerable expense but a departure from her previous habits. "I can't afford a $5,000 dress," she joked to the Los Angeles Times in 1980 after her expensive tastes were noticed. "I don't know anyone who can." That was a bit of hyperbole. Moreover, the President's current salary of $200,000 a year could cover the cost of many made-to-order outfits.

After moving into the White House, Mrs. Reagan converted Amy Carter's bedroom into a spacious walk-in closet to house her extensive wardrobe, according to one former White House official. This source says the room, roughly 10 ft. by 15 ft., has held hundreds of dresses in built-in cabinets along all four walls. Each dress is labeled with the occasions on which it was worn, apparently so Mrs. Reagan can avoid displaying it again in front of the same audience.

Blazakis has identified more than 300 photographs taken since 1982 showing Mrs. Reagan wearing outfits by such couturiers as Galanos, Hayes, Bill Blass and Adolfo. He has estimated prices for each outfit. A buyer for a leading department store independently verified the Blazakis estimates on a representative sample of 80 of these photographs. The two fashion experts placed a retail value on each ensemble; they ranged from $1,500 to more than $20,000. Both estimated the value of the whole collection at between $1,047,900 and $1,392,900.

Blass and Adolfo would not comment on their arrangements with Mrs. Reagan. Beyond Crispen's statements, White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater refused any further comment on the matter.

The public fuss over the First Lady's finery started in November 1981 after she voluntarily informed the White House staff that she had been accepting clothes as gifts, including a $25,000 Galanos creation that she wore to the 1981 Inauguration. She asked whether this was wrong. White House attorneys advised that she could accept clothes as loans but would have to disclose them.

Mrs. Reagan announced on Jan. 14, 1982, that she would consider the dresses accepted in 1981 as loans. Beyond that, she would select the best and give them to 13 museums to promote the fashion industry. According to the selected museums, the last such donation was in 1982. In February of that year she said she had told all her favorite designers that she would no longer accept any dresses on loan. The First Lady does not appear to have kept that promise.

With reporting by Jay Peterzell/Washington and Raji Samghabadi/New York