Fashion: Not So Funny Girl

Somehow the fizz was out of the champagne during Paris' fashion showings last week. Chanel showed suits, Grès had a tent-shaped evening gown, St. Laurent showed exaggerated sailor suits and transparent organza dresses. But after Rome, it all seemed flat until Barbra Streisand, Broadway's freewheeling funny girl, showed up on her first trip abroad to add some zing and zest to the proceedings.

At a Chanel showing it is de rigueur for spectators to wear their own little Chanel suits out of loyalty to Coco. But no one told Barbra; she swept in to take her place beside Marlene Dietrich and Elsa Martinelli in a jaguar-skin suit and Homburg that had even the models gawking. How did she like the show? "Those girls at Cardin's," said the girl from Brooklyn, "they didn't have a thing under their dresses. I was embarrassed." And Paris haul couture? Barbra politely demurred: "Nice, but not for me." Privately, she declared: "It stinks"