Armani's Style

To the Editors:

Your article on Fashion Designer Giorgio Armani [April 5] was an exhilarating and refreshing story. He has done wonders with a bolt of fabric, and has an extremely well-groomed approach toward dressing a woman. If you've never experienced the feeling of wearing an Armani, you've never experienced comfort or freedom in clothes. I'm proud to flaunt his wings on the back of my jeans.

Lisa M. Sarbach Laramie, Wyo.

Since the Garden of Eden, Eve's descendants have covered themselves sensibly and attractively only twice--with the Greek chiton 2,000 years ago and, in the late '50s, with the designs of Balenciaga. Now in their "liberated" period, women seem more eager than ever to become enslaved to the follies and fads of the fops of fashion.

Andrew T. Halmay Toronto

If, as the cover story states, "clothes are the fabric of history, the texture of time," one can only hope that history will not repeat itself.

Harold O. Christensen San Francisco

Just reading about Armani and his creations gave me a feeling of elegance.

Ethel Wilde Baltimore

The girls who are modeling Armani's fashions look as if they had raided a thrift shop and come out with clothing that wasn't in their size. Since my words will carry little weight, I'll turn to Dorothy Parker, who summed it up rather nicely in her short story Just a Little One: "You mean those clothes of hers are intentional? My heavens, I always thought she was on her way out of a burning building."

Philip Lawrence New York City

Nuclear Threat

Your article on nuclear war focused on the U.S.-Soviet stalemate [March 29]. What about all those Third World countries that will soon have nuclear capability? They have so little to lose, and our large cities make such wonderful targets.

Pat E. Perrin San Diego

The trick that the Pentagon's Thomas K. Jones has proposed for personal survival in the event of a nuclear war calls for true ingenuity. How does a person crawl into a hole, cover the hole with a couple of doors and then pile three feet of dirt on top of them?

Paul Krawitz Buffalo

We here in Europe have been waiting with bated breath for the awakening of our allies across the water. The most important phrase in your article is "nuclear weapons have made war obsolete." I fear our world leaders are dinosaurs, only they haven't yet realized it.

Rowena Marker Leder Grassington, England

Let the Soviets come and get me. I'd rather live with mega-Communism than live to see megadeath.

Cindy Nathanson Los Angeles

I have never claimed that the California Bilateral Nuclear Weapons Freeze Initiative was my "brainchild." The genealogy of "an idea whose time has come" can get murky, but in this particular case, legitimate claims to parenthood should include the voters from western Massachusetts, who passed a resolution resembling ours, along with a number of my fellow Californians.

Harold Willens

Campaign Coordinator

Californians for a Bilateral

Nuclear Arms Freeze

Los Angeles

Yankelovich Poll

I find it interesting that 63% of those you polled [April 5] do not want a tax cut. That gives me an idea. How about a tax cut option on IRS 1040 forms. Check yes if you want a tax cut, no if you don't.

Susan B. Southard Gary, N.C.

You say 63% of my fellow citizens are opposed to a tax cut, but I have yet to meet one of them.

Jim Russell Chardon, Ohio

In past presidential elections, the American people have elected the candidate who promised to balance the budget, lower taxes and maintain or increase defense spending. Now we are like a terminally ill patient who goes "doctor shopping" in a desperate quest to be cured. When will we stop abandoning a President because he cannot deliver the impossible things that we demand?

Nora S. Jens Lancaster, Pa.

Chemical Warfare

The use of chemical weapons [April 5] by the Soviet Union in Asia is a horrible reality. It's even more shocking to think that President Reagan wants to rebuild the U.S. chemical arsenal with our tax dollars for a similar use.

Carl S. Horkavy Pasadena, Texas

Yellow rain and Agent Orange are man's stupidity in deadly colors.

David J. Robinson Bethlehem, Pa.

Can I Borrow This Book?

In his Essay [April 5], Roger Rosenblatt suggests there is no effective way to discourage the book borrower; I submit there is. When someone wants one of my books, I will willingly oblige--but the borrower must first give me a deposit of $50. He gets his money back when he returns the book. Are some people insulted? Of course--the very ones who would never have returned the book otherwise.

Ralph A. Brooks New York City

Your Essay hit home. As a teacher and book collector, I liked to share knowledge. But in Colombia, South America, I learned a proverb that translates as "It is not known who is dumber, he who lends a book or he who returns it."

Dorcia E. Salcedo Galveston, Texas

While my heart momentarily stops beating whenever a visitor expresses interest in one of my beloved books, I still continue to lend and share with others. Sometimes the books do come back to you, even if by accident. Once I lent a book to a friend who then lent it to someone else. Two years later I chanced upon it in the house of another friend, who thoughtfully asked me if I would like to borrow it. I told her yes, and brought it home.

Yeoh Oon Chuan Washington, D.C.

Roger Rosenblatt's suggested response to a potential book borrower ("I'll break your arm, you bastard!") is understandable, but far too mild. The gentle-minded Mr. Rosenblatt is a pale descendant of the medieval book lover who, in the same circumstances, customarily responded by suggesting disembowelment, torture or excommunication.

To discourage borrowers, book thieves, or even honest readers who failed to wash their hands before letting their ringers do the walking, medieval scribes laid curses on their manuscripts. A typical example reads: "If anyone take away this book, let him die the death; let him be fried in a pan; let the falling sickness and fever seize him; let him be broken on the wheel, and hanged. Amen."

Marc Drogin Exeter, N.H.

Your Essay on book borrowing brought to mind a current problem of mine: I received as a gift John Updike's Rabbit Is Rich and later recommended it to the donor, who borrowed but has not returned it.

Howard J. Woronov Fayetteville, N. Y.

Women Fire Fighters

A couple of years ago, the Michigan Municipal League, working with the Michigan Fire Chiefs' Association, developed new, rigorous selection procedures for fire fighters. The first time a Michigan city used the new procedures was also the first time a woman was hired as a full-time professional fire fighter [April 5]. This woman and others hired under the new procedures are doing fine. I was skeptical at first, but I've been convinced. I've met many fire chiefs who have little but praise for their women fire fighters.

Jim Wardlow

Michigan Municipal League Ann Arbor, Mich.

What price must society pay for equality? Will someone have to die at the hands of a 105-lb. firewoman before standards are once again based on job requirements rather than on the applicant's potential? If your life or mine was in danger, I daresay we would desire the best physically equipped person available, not someone who was hired by virtue of a quota system. Paul F. Lupica East Windsor, N.J.

Many volunteer fire departments, particularly in suburban communities, rely heavily on housewives for daytime response. The physical agility test has been overturned as non-job-related in many localities, such as Jacksonville. In almost 40 years in the fire service, I have yet to carry anyone up a flight of stairs for a rescue. I prefer instead to drag a person along the floor and down the stairs, both to stay below the heat and smoke and to permit better balance for myself.

Timothy G. Stillman

Fire Fighter, Broward County

Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

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