Fashion: Instant Originals

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Fashion this fall seems to be the work of the Madwoman of Chaillot. Plus elements of a rummage sale, a fancy-dress party, and that haphazard art form based on "found objects."

The "little nothing" black dress will no longer do, even if it carries a famous designer's label. Today a woman is expected to design herself, assembling on her body a collage of bright colors, sensuous textures and glittering accessories. There are jeweled vests, billowing felt capes, balloon pants, plus pounds of false jewelry, ribbons, scarves, belts and chains—anything that can be combined to create a fanciful costume of individuality and panache.

The new attitude is free and defiant. "I don't give a damn any longer what people think," declares Manhattan Career Girl Pam Zauderer, 23. Not exactly a novel or revolutionary notion. Still, she was raised in Chanel suits picked out by her mother, and she now goes dining and dancing in pants—shaggy fur ones for the gaucho look at a party given by Vogue Editor Diana Vreeland, fringed satin ones for the Indian look at a Four Seasons reception for Yves Saint Laurent. Post-Deb Cathy Macauley, 21, shows up in Manhattan for the superformal opening of the Metropolitan Opera season wearing black culottes, an extravagantly embroidered red vest and a leash borrowed from her cat as a necklace. "I was going to go barefoot," says Cathy, "but I guess that's not right for the opera."

Take-Off Pants. The costume look—or the "rich hippie" look, as it is sometimes known—is not just the prerogative of the young. Socialite-Artist Gloria Vanderbilt Cooper, 44, is one devotee. Greeting guests at her recent one-woman show in Washington, D.C., she wore silver lamé harem pants, matching vest, rhinestone earrings,'bracelets, a brooch and six gold rings. "My dressing is a natural extension of my art," says Gloria, who specializes in collages.

Much of the impetus comes from the exotic costumes dreamed up by youth, and the watchword is "Do your own thing." The situation has traditional designers up tight. Old standard setters, like Balenciaga, have retired. Others, like Saint Laurent, reach for youth by focusing increasingly on less expensive ready-to-wear clothes. At 46, fatigued by the efforts that have kept him far ahead of other designers, Rudi Gernreich last week announced that he was taking a year off in order to refresh himself. Says Gernreich, who championed the new attitude all along: "I feel that a woman must buy the basics from a boutique or designer, and then be able to do what she wants with scarves and chains. Women want to involve themselves with their clothes."