Fashion: Hello, Belly

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Though Buddhists regard it with fascination, obstetricians with respect, and belly-dancers as a way of life, no one not interested in finding the middle of his abdomen has ever paid much attention to the human navel. It is neither a beautiful object nor a particularly useful one; children poke fun at it, and even analysts smile.

Bikinis, however, put the navel back in style-turned it, in fact, into something of a fashion must (not even the choicest midriff could get by without one). What was good at the beach was "obviously just as good in town, if only someone could figure out how to do it. Luckily, someone did. Just this month, Vogue magazine proudly presented the results of Paris Couturier Courreges' figuring: a pair of slippery, silver-sequinned evening slacks that underscore the area with a white satin bow. The cost? $3,695. The navel? No longer a laughing matter, it presents another sort of public problem: where to look and what to say to its owner.