Overall Chic

They are called jumpsuits, but they are not for lady leapers. Smartly tailored in elegant fabrics, the one-piece garments can cost $350 or more in boutiques and department stores. Plain or fancy, jumpsuits--actually jumped-up versions of the overalls worn by plumbers, carpenters and garage mechanics--are the hottest A thing going on the U.S. fashion scene these days.

Says Brenda Bird, a buyer for Alexander's, the big New York department store chain: "We can't keep them in stock. Price is no object." Agrees Kal Ruttenstein, a Saks Fifth Avenue vice president: "It's the only fashion silhouette this fall." Retailers and manufacturers, reports Women's Wear Daily, "are already viewing it as the sleeper of '75." Cinnamon Wear, a sprightly New York fashion house, has filled 10,000 orders for its lower-priced ($45 to $50) jumpsuits since last spring; Saks stores across the U.S. have sold 2,000 so far this fall. Betty Ford is reported to have bought one.

Like peacoats, jeans, sweatshirts and other upwardly mobile work clothes, jumpsuits have become fashionable because they are functional. Comfortable in action, they are "one-stop" attire, as easy to don as to doff. "After packing separates in a suitcase most of the summer weekends, I found that I spent the whole day in my jumpsuit," explained a young New York shopper last week. "Then I ended up just adding a scarf at night. A jumpsuit is such easy dressing. It does as much as a well-tailored pair of pants to make you look dramatic."

Given a slim, trim young body, that is. In tight-fitting overalls, large-beamed ladies often ludicrously resemble Al Capp's pearish Shmoo--or Winston Churchill in his wartime siren suit. But retailers are working with manufacturers to bring out jumps for the well-upholstered.

The jumpsuit fad began in Paris and was brought to the U.S. by models who had attended last fall's fashion shows. The first Paris designer to bring back a high-fashion jumpsuit was Yves Saint Laurent, whose collection for fall included jumps in classic poplin ($205), a black acrylic with drawstring waist ($375) and a turtleneck number ($355). A nationwide bestseller is Victor Joris' self-belted gabardine suit with pleated pants ($110); in all, some 600 stores have ordered 38,000 Joris jumps. One of the most popular numbers, though, is the inexpensive Esso suit, a loose overall in cotton emblazoned with Exxon's familiar name.

The first spring and summer fashion shows in Manhattan have featured jumpsuits by other top designers in jersey, Liberty prints, slinky evening models and versions with Kabuki sleeves and toggles. Kenzo's wide-wale corduroy in slate gray has banded trouser bottoms and goes well with construction boots.

Other trendy accessories range from plumbers' satchels from Denmark ($26) to Saint Laurent's scrapes ($100).

Is the jumpsuit here to stay?

Most big retailers think so. "It really is the total look," maintains Denise Silchner, head of Bonwit Teller's juniors department in Beverly Hills. "You don't have to coordinate tops with pants. If a woman buys one and a few accessories like a belt and a scarf, she looks like she's off the cover of Vogue." Or Popular Mechanics.

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