Modern Living: The Long & the Short of It

The invitation reads BLACK TIE. So much for what the man wears. But even if his wife is on the best-dressed list, she will still call up her friends to find out how they are going to play the shin game—covered or exposed? Now two top American designers, Norman Norell and Jimmy Galanos, have trotted out their spring collections. And what is the new trend? Short, says Norell. Long, says Galanos.

Norell's gowns are more than short; they're shapeless. One after another, his models whirled around in shifts that barely exposed a single curve between neck bone and kneecap. Still, the dresses looked classically elegant. Some were pastel-colored, with a wide band of bugle beads on cuffs and hems; others were made entirely of beads in gay, candy-colored stripes. "Long gowns are old-fashioned," he explained. "Why should women wear skirts above the knees in daytime and sweep the floors at night?"

Norell did not stop there. After all, if one can wear a nightshirt to a museum opening, why not pajamas to a dinner party or discotheque? Made of loosely fitting silk crepe, his pj's are the last word in fancy pants, come either in solid pastel shades or striking two-tone jester designs. For those who want to dazzle as well as dance, he proposes black beaded pajamas, finished off with a fringe at the ankle.

To Galanos, such informality is unthinkable. "Women want to put on long gowns," he points out. "What else can give them that special gala feeling? Who wants to go to a formal dance in the same-length dress she wears all day?" To create that special feeling, Galanos depended largely on chiffon and sex. Taking a cue from the new bathing suits, he draped nude chiffon across deeply plunging necklines or stretched it tantalizingly across back or midriff. Some of the tops were too brief even to hide a bra, and the models had nothing to rely on but moral support.