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FASHION FORECAST
By Michelle Moore

[[black and white photo of model on runway with caption "Bill Blass's short jersey evening dress"]]

SIMPLE NEW FALL CLOTHES
By the end of this month, the swimsuits and the summer play clothes will be pushed to one side, and the spotlight in fashionable shops around the country will be on fall clothes.
The watchword of the new season is "simple." This goes for daytime and, perhaps surprisingly, for evening fashions as well. The high-voltage glow of last year's gold and sequin dresses has receded somewhat. So has the long, bouffant skirt, which makes going to the theatre or a concert such a challenge, spilling over as it does into the next sear and not fitting too easily into compact cars either. The prevailing shape for evening dresses for the next season is slender, and thereby lies the hazard. The styles follow the body so carefully, there isn't a bit of room for excess flesh. Of course, there isn't much camouflage in swimsuits either, and the women who has gotten herself into shape for this summer's revealing maillots doesn't have a thing to fear from next winter's sheaths. She'll fit into them neatly.
A number of American designers, including Bill Blass, have concentrated on the short evening dress, having found that there is what amounts to an insatiable demand for clothes that are formal enough to wear to restaurants and parties that are not black tie. Like the long dresses, these are often in jersey, have bare or covered up tops and follow the body smoothly.
Oscar de la Renta manages to soften the line a trifle by introducing gentle shirring and drapery through the mid-section. Last year he concentrated his draped effects at the hipline, a technique which proved considerably trying to many bodies. At the midriff and waistline, these lightly draped areas offer a modicum of camouflage.
Geoffrey Beene's evening dresses are the strictest and most elegant versions of the narrow line. His aid to the less-than-perfect-body: bloused jackets or boleros that look pretty across the table and offer some relief from the prevailing slender look.
The best American clothes, of course, are sports clothes. While there are many good casual collections, two stand out. The classic control of Calvin Klein's collection has not been surpassed anywhere as he proves that with a few jackets, trousers, a skirt or two and some blouses and sweaters a woman can look well dressed at any time of day. Mr. Klein, who started his career as a coat designer, also offers some of the best looking coasts of the season. They are mainly long, in  classic shapes, and ample enough to fit over, say, a jack and a sweater. But he is particularly enthusiastic about his nine-tenths length coats, which show just a sliver of 

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skirt underneath, if the skirt is knee length, and look marvelous with trousers.
Donna Karan made a sensation debut with a sportswear collection that includes such accessories as tights and handbags, making it possible for a woman to get an entire wardrobe together in one place. The designer, who spent all of her working life at Anne Klein, offered her first collection under her own name on the last day of the fall openings in New York.
It proved to be the sensation of the season.
Miss Karan is aiming her clothes at the working woman with a minimum of time to spend shopping, but her sophisticated designs appeal to women with plenty of time as well as money. They include some novel ideas, like a scarf that can be twisted into a skirt and wool jersey and satin blouses built like body suits so they cannot be pulled out of the waistband. But if those ideas seem too advanced, there are plenty of good sweaters, pants and jackets for women with a strong sense of style.
The Anne Klein collection has not fallen by the wayside. It is in excellent shape, designed by Louis Dell'Olio, Miss Karan's associate for more than a decade. Leather skirts and cashmere sweaters are two of its specialties. 
Ralph Lauren's quaintly Edwardian theme is expressed in riding jackets and velvet skirts, with lace ascots and wrist ruffles contributing to its old fashioned look. 
Every designer offers attractive sweaters, and Perry Ellis's unicorn and greyhound styles have special appeal. Geometric patterns along with pictorial designs give a fresh quality to knits, alternating with standard turtlenecks in solid colors. Gloria Sachs does some excellent twin sets, with longer cardigans over waist-length pullovers providing a drastic change in proportion from the simple cashmere classics. 
They are all part of the excitment that American sportswear provides. Casual clothes, after all, represent a field in which American designers excel.

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