The Des Moines Register from Des Moines, Iowa • Page 75

mm Section Nine June 1. 1947 California Shows the Way When Summer Togs Go Out to Play 'v -4- and play togs such as are pictured here. California (with the eager help of the movies) has introduced not only new and interesting bathing suits, but such innovations as sunback dresses, bare midriffs, shorts, slacks, pedal pushers and the U. S. version of the dirndl.

The dirndl, in fact, was introduced by a former Iowan, Louella Ballerino. She left her home in Brooklyn, to become one of the most noted designers in Los Angeles, which boasts more than 15,000 sportswear workers alone. Some months ago, Fiorello LaGuardia, a New Yorker who ays what he thinks, advised New York garment makers to "give up a couple of pinochle games and watch this situation." The situation to which LaGuardia referred was the booming California clothing industry. It has grown sevenfold in the last 10 years. This year it expects to gross nearly a half-billion dollars, and within 10 years it hopes to reach annual sales of a billion.

Not all, by any means, but much of this business is due to sports V'- A 1 I- 3 i A Two-Piece, White Elastic Bathing Suit is modeled by Barbara Hale of RKO. California designers work on the theory that the prettier a girl is, the more one should see of her. Miss Hale is unusually pretty. Her latest picture for RKO is "A Likely Story." Los Angeles Has the Advantage of "the world's best showcase Hollywood" with which to display such sportswear as this. Over a snug white wool bathing suit Hazel Brooks wears a yellow V-necked, long-sleeved sweater as she rests beside one of Hollywood's numerous swimming pools.

Miss Brooks, wife of MGM's Art Director Cedric Gibbons, appears in Enterprise's "Arch of Triumph" and "Body and Soul." 7 "7 I 7 if i i fi a A 7 if "'7'. fSr'-Jl 1 77 t7-; j- I T7 f7 'V i 7 ,7 I i iff 1R i .1 Not To Be Outdone by the commercial designers, (such-for example, as Mabs, who with the help of her engineer husband designed a more comfortable seat for women's slacks) a movie executive originated this swimming suit. Twentieth Century-Fox Wardrobe Director Charles LeMaire fashioned it for Marilyn Mon roe, of "Scudda Hoo, Scudda Hay." It is a bustle job of printed silk faille, with form-fitting tights covered by full sash that ties in a perky bustle. One problem of California garment industry has been comparative lack of textile plants in west. More are moving in, and New York well may worry about the trend.

Something New on the Beaches This Year is a California firm's high-visibility fabric called gantron. This fabric is said to be from two to 10 times as brilliant as ordinary textiles. It was used during the war in navy signaling flags, minefield markers and other places where unusual visibility was required. The suit pictured above is a one-piece job of neon red gantron and black last ex wool. On a clear day it can be seen from two miles away.

Model well worth a closer look than two miles is Barbara Kelly. (GntMr of California photograph).