To Our Readers

By Elizabeth Valk Long

We recently received a communique from one of our favorite correspondents, Martha Duffy, who in her years as a researcher, writer and senior editor at TIME has covered every aspect of the arts. Her sprightly critique of modern fashion's descent into the facetious and Felliniesque appears in this issue. Duffy says:

"I became interested in fashion on a trip I took to Paris after college. I had no money. But I was aware enough of Chanel and Mme. Gres to know that if you called ahead and turned up at 3 in the afternoon, you could see a free show with live models and maybe get a glimpse of the couturier. Perhaps I got hooked when I saw Chanel herself surveying the defile, crouched at the top of that mirrored staircase on the rue Cambon, watching her models descend.

"These days the Paris shows are the most fun. All kinds of show biz, social comment -- like cellular phones being used by models as they saunter down the runway. As of this year, the Paris shows take place in a new part of the Louvre called the Carrousel. A few renegade designers march people off to an outlying arrondissement to see the clothes in an abandoned warehouse or train station. Once inside, you often have to wait an hour or more for the show to start. In New York, 20 to 30 minutes is the rule. But no fashion show starts on time. "New York shows are shorter and more to the point -- less flummery and glitz. Maybe the reason is that New York is the capital of sportswear fashion, and histrionics don't sell the casual stuff. But to judge a designer's work, you have to discard the show biz, often even the costume as it's put together, and look at the elements separately. Underneath the jerk outfits, there may be wearable, even best-selling clothes.

"And I love the bows the couturiers take at the end of their shows. Yves Saint Laurent's are the best. He often walks out warily, as though he hadn't been exposed to strong light for a while. At last month's ready-to-wear show, however, he was alert and effusive to his adoring models.

"Calvin Klein offered a nice variation in New York last week. Usually the models are joined by the Great Man, who is warmly applauded, and who in turn kisses several of the girls. Klein sent the girls out, then they filed back; not a sign of him. Finally he appeared, looking tanned, healthy and chaste, a cardigan tied around his waist. He sketched a brief bow."

For her brisk, knowing criticism of the current direction of fashion, Duffy deserves to take a long bow.