The Courier-News from Bridgewater, New Jersey • Page 21

ILfiwfiiifl The Courier-News rgr bi Thursday, February Men's spring amid summer fashions For warm weather, designers offer a splash of color; Suspenders are back but not just to hold up pants By NADIA ZIGALKA Courier-News Staff Writer Menswear blasts off in a rainbow of colors for spring and summer, revives a few oldies, makes an obeisance to silk, welcomes back madras, goes strong on sweaters and leaves silhouettes alone. Styling remains virtually unchanged in deference to the economy, Norman Karr, executive director of the Men's Fashion I 'i mm Association, told the nation's fashion press assembled in Los Angeles for a marathon five-day preview. But although men can keep what they have in their closets, there are inducements to spending. They can do it not only on color but on whimsies such as suspenders, described by Hart Schaffner Marx, arbiter of fashions, as the surprise of the season. They appeared in virtually all the collections in everything from black and white to the newest pastels to fire engine red.

They come in nylon stretch, in solids as well as stripes, and with metal clip-ons and combination leather-button fasteners with the manufacturers providing the buttons. Once utilitarian (just to hold up pants), they're now strictly for style, picking up colors in the man's choice of apparel for the day. The season also is swamped with sweaters, touted now for their coolness rather than warmth. Made primarily of cotton but sometimes combined with linen or other textiles, they are made in all styles with the vest the most versatile. Designers built their reputations in the past four or five years on a groundwork of cotton sweaters, with Tony Lambert the latest in their echelons.

The growth of their popularity was described as "nothing short of phenomenal." Getting consumers to accept them for higher temperatures was an "uphill battle all the way," even though cotton has a cooling effect in warm weather and a warming effect in cold, Lambert said. They should be bought preshrunk because those that are not will emerge from the washer and dryer up to 30 percent smaller, he warned. People in business offices are becoming more quality conscious, buying one suit for what they spent on two in the past, it was noted in a seminar featuring five retail industry leaders, including Manny Rockof of Elizabeth. A couple of years ago, young men didn't hesitate to go looking for jobs in jeans, but that's no longer true, retailers said. "The word is out.

You had better look the part because there are a lot of people who are looking for your job," said a retailer catering to the younger generation. Rockoff, who represents 8,000 stores as president of the Merchants Retail Association, said the current economic squeeze made suits a necessity and sports jackets more of a luxury. Tough times also have forced a drastic reduction in the number of vested suits, he pointed out, because the addition of a vest adds from $40 to $75 to the price of the outfit. A resurgence of the double-breasted suit, and the season's higher mercury readings contributed to their waning popularity. But not all consumers are feeling the pinch.

Silk, one of the most expensive fibers, goes to Wall Street in greater volume than ever before, appearing in business suits in 100 percent formulations or in blends. It's also found in after-five clothes, including sweater shirts, which actually are pullovers. In the latter, it is combined with orlon for greater comfort. And apparently young men on the rise aren't quibbling over a $25 price tag on a tie. Stripes, which made a major comeback last year, are toned down in suiting, along with colors, but hit the eye in sportswear and action wear.

Manufacturers even put them into blazers. There is one minor change in silhouettes. Pants are getting three-quarters to an inch wider from the seat down. Since there is nothing "fancy-dancy" about suits, Karr noted, designers provided plenty of material to add freshness to the wardrobe. It includes hats, which are being worn more because they are lighter in weight and because shorn thatches make them fit better, according to Chip Tolbert, fashion director of MFA.

Among them are classic stiff boaters, panamas, planters' hats, milans and even a straw homburg. The influence of the movies has had an effect too. Shirts, although subtler in shades than casual wear, add considerable color to suits, with patterns leaning heavily to plaids and stripes, the latter often done as stripes on stripes. Slip-ons are still the number one style in footgear but the stock, market crowd also will find monk straps, moccasin styles and latticed woven uppers. White bucks and saddle shoes are the oldies among leisure wear, with moccasins in bright and Easter egg: colors leading this field.

A word about the high cost of shoes, even though MFA contended that apparel rose only 3.2 percent as compared with 3.9 percent for all items on the Consumer Price Index. It is not unusual for names in the business to put a price tag exceeding $100 and frequently approaching $200 for a pair of penny loafers or saddles. Jungle fever will rule men's playtime hours. Romantic safari jackets abound, paired with short or long pants, and perhaps running neck and neck with sailing parkas for landlubbers who want a touch of the sea in a trend toward regatta fashions. Many innovations have been introduced in the off-duty standby, the T-shirt, like side closings and sleevelessness, stripes down the sleeves and the sides of bodies.

The show stealer is the leather Continued on Page B6 Suspenders, above, give a nostalgic touch to sport coat and slacks by Clenet. Jacket Is of polyester and wool, and slacks are done In combed cotton, Alexander Julian's madras sport shirt, below, In pastels and pullover of cotton and linen exemplify three trends In men's apparel the fabric, the sweater and the extensive use of color. Casual elegance by Allyn St. George combines a silk herringbone sport Jacket and worsted flannel slacks In an old Ivory shade. Shirt logos losing their snob appeal By MARK MAREMONT Columbia News Service NEW YORK While alligators, polo ponies, foxes, tigers, dragons and penguins are still fighting each other tooth and nail for a place over America's heart, fashion industry insiders say the shirt companies they represent may soon be in for a shock.

There are signs that America's love affair with the shirt logo has reached its peak. "People are getting tired of advertising other people's names on their shirts," says Tom Quinn, the men's knits buyer for Lord Taylor, the New York-based department store. "There has been a bit of a backlash against the logo as a status symbol." The trend is most evident at Lord Taylor and other big department stores such as Bloomingdale's and Saks Fifth Avenue, where the nation's fashion tastes are often set. Buyers at the stores say their sales of such popular knit shirts as the Izod LaCoste, with its familiar alligator logo, are flat or falling this year after years of phenomenal growth. The buyers speculate that oversaturation has killed the alligator's snob appeal.

A few years ago its shirt was so popular that Izod could barely meet demand at department stores and specialty shops. But the company has now expanded its distribution to include discount stores, and the shirts are even showing up on peddlers' blankets on city streets here. Increased competition may be another reason for Izod's troubles. Lower-priced alligator look-alikes such as Campus Sportswear's "Le Tigre," Sears' "Dragon," and J.C. Penney's "The Fox" have eaten into the company's market.

A spokesman for Izod denied that sales were down, but Continued on Page B3 1 1 miUiC "lvl pMa if Esperanto a boost over the language barrier Computers may head off a new 'Three Mile Island' sy Montgomery On Science Esperanto fluently or are only a beginner. A few years ago, in Sofia, Bulgaria, we returned to our rented car to find a note on the windshield; because we had a green-star sticker, a fellow Esperantist had found us. The note was an invitation to the local folk-dance festival where Josef, our new friend, was to appear that evening. After the festival we went to a local cafe to meet Josef and another Esperantist from Romania. When the latter learned that we were planning to go to that country, he begged us to visit him.

One evening when we were in Budapest, enjoying dinner and the sound of a small string quartet playing gypsy music, one of the musicians, a bass-violin player, put down his Instrument and timidly approached our table. He pointed at our green-star pins and asked, "Cu vl parolas Esperanton?" (Do you speak Esperanto?) He invited us to meet him the next day for a tour of "my beloved Budapest." By ELEANOR STEIN The Christian Science Monitor News Service My husband and I have traveled extensively in much of the world, not as strangers but as welcomed guests. We have a special passport a green-star pin as our badge of identification. It means we are Esperantists. Esperanto is an international language, the creation of Dr.

Ludwig Zamenhof a Pole, who hoped a universal language would bring about better understanding and communication among the people of the world. This language is not difficult to learn. It is not considered a foreign tongue, because it doesn't "belong" to any nation. When Zamenhof created Esperanto, he began with 900 With prefixes and suffixes more than 8,000 can be formed. A simple sentence can easily be understood.

For instance: Esperanto estas la moderna, lnternacia lingvo por tute la mondo. The trans lation, if you haven't guessed, is Esperanto is the modern, international language for the whole world. You can find Esperantists in every civilized country. How? First, become an Esperantist by learning the language. Many college and community libraries have reference books.

Second, join the world organization, the Universal Esperanto Association. You will receive an international membership yearbook with names and addresses of members from more than 90 countries, Including the United States. Getting in touch with Esperantists in the U.S. is an easy matter: Write to the Esperanto League for North America, PO Box 1129, El Cerrito, Calif. 94530.

We found that when we wrote a letter to an Esperantist, telling of our arrival and length of stay, we were Invited to do everything from living several days with that person's family to being interviewed on television and radio. And it doesn't seem Uj matter whether you speak and Medicine aaaaaMaaWJ a An operator has been sitting at the controls of a nuclear power plant all day with scarcely a thing to do. The systems are automatic; the plant is smoothly meeting the power demands of his city without much help from him. Sudddenly, meters change direction. Horns blast.

Alarms shriek. Lights flash. They all demand his answer: What has gone wrong? Where? Why? What should he do about it? Like a calm voice amid the frenzy, an intelligent computer might soon provide the answer. "System leak is in progress," it might flash on its screen, advising the operator, "Based on current plant state, recommend emergency procedures 3-5. Close valves to isolate systems.

Experts at the Department of Energy's Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (INEL) are now at work designing intelligent computers to help operators diagnose and solve problems at nuclear power Continued on Page B3.