Evening star., 1938-03-27

GSNGA SGrtr anu DOHdlc
- Klopfer, the spirited young
heads Of Random House,
49, Inc, who are publishing
next month the Public Papers and
Addresses of President Roosevelt"
gave party last week which was so
diverting. so original and so sue
cessful that the world-depressed,
Lent-weary New Workers, for an
afternoon, at least, snapped their
fingers at gloom.
The party was given in honor Of
Miss Elizabeth Halves, American
designer and coutouriere, to cele-
brate the publication Of her book,
Fashion Is Spinach" 1t was held
at the establishment of Hawes,
Inc, and on the invitations was
printed the following warning
There will be a showing of Miss
Hawes spring collection at $50
sharp. Literary connoisseurs, pos
sibly unfamiliar with such goings
on. are requested to keep their
hands off the models"
Consider the usual literary tea.
There are present the author, un-
happily trying to make conversa-
ton; the critics, there because they
have to be and none too cheerful
about 1t, and the publishers who
whisk around trying to make every
one congenial. Nine times out of
10 the tea is strong and the liquor
weak and the balance of the guests
are literary dangerous, who talk
freely and are very hard to under
stand.
This party was anything but
that. In order to insure masculine
success, Bennett Cert told Eliza
beth Hawes to get hold of the best
looking models in New York, which
she did. Then, to add a little
pungency to his list OF guests, he
invited Freda Kirchway from the
the Nation, Henry Hard Of the
Book Union and a group Of hand
picked Communists. The critics
were there in force, Lewis Gam
nett, Isabel Patterson. Harry Han
sen. Hershell Brickell, Irita Van
Doren and others. Most of the
men had never seen fashion show
before, and they had field day!
The models strolled throught the
crowd, dressed in lovely, simple
dresses, every one of which had
been named after one OF the Mod
ern Library, which Random House
publishes. There was Lord Jim"
and Mol Flanders" THE Con-
quest of Mexico" and "The Mem
oirs of Casanova" In the mid
die of the showing Miss Hawes
sent out half dozen of her mod
els in clothes she had designed in
1926, short-skirted, long-Waisted.
Finally, but by this time the guests
were having far too fine a time to
get the sublety Of her gesture, a
particularly beautiful girl appeared,
dressed as Fashion Is Spinach"
She wore a horrid, sleazy, soiled,
nile green chiffon dress, with dim
rhinestone shoulder straps. Miss
Halves had bought this on Third
avenue for Sc.
Miss Hawes' book is meat and
drink for all women, and certainly
to all husbands, and sheer poison
to those who participate in the big
fashion racket. Her title comes
from one Of the New Yorker's most
famous cartoons.
Eat your broccoli, dear" says
the sophisticated mother to her
equally worldly young daughter.
Il say its spinach and I say to
- with II" is the reply.
That Is just what Elizabeth
Hawes says to fashion, but not to
style. She sees no reason why a
woman can't wear a good coat for
several years without being sub
ject to salesladies saying to her:
you can't possibly wear that coat,
because it has belt, and this year
we're not showing belts"
Style, Miss Hawes claims, does
not vary except when there Is
real change in womens activities,
the innovation of shorts for tennis,
Is a perfect example. Style is
functional. She attacks, impair
TALLY, with wit and information,
the advertisers, the manufacturers,
the fashion magazines, the stores
and the wholesalers. She believes
that some day American women
will wake up and demand good
materials and well-cut clothes that
last. Then they will no longer
submit to the extravagances forced