PAPER CAPERS
Tradition aside—as Gussie Moran once said—why pay $2 to dry-clean a tennis dress when you can buy one for $3, wear it through several hard sessions of play and then throw it away like a Kleenex? As a matter of fact, the tennis clothes on the opposite page are 93% Kleenex and, along with the bathing suits, beach dresses and blue jeans on the following pages, are part and parcel of a paper body-packaging explosion. Babies are diapered and surgeons are gowned in paper. Motels have wear-them-once swim trunks and bathrobes for their guests, and shops in discoth√®ques sell star-for-a-night disco dresses, bright enough for psychedelia, tough enough for an evening of rock 'n' roll. There are coated-paper raincoats, good for 10 drenchings, and underwear of knitted paper meant for one wearing. There are T shirts and sweat shirts and soon there will be football jerseys—no tearaway problems there. Paper manufacturers, who sold more than one million yards for apparel this year, have revved up production of such innovations as knitted, mesh and stretch papers. Many have nylon or rayon fibers added for strength. All paper fashions are coated for fireproofing, and none will burn up your bankroll—the most expensive of the clothes on these pages sell for $12.
Jil Fromer and Erin Gray wear paper tennis outfits that won't melt in a hot set and are strategically scissored, side and back, for comfort in Laguna sunshine.
Paper-banner bathing suits durable enough for a dunking in the surf are worn by Kathy Fuller and Erin Gray (top left) at Laguna Beach, Calif. Carroll Roebke (left) keeps cool in a jump suit of mesh-knit paper, worn over a body stocking. The play dresses and romper Carroll, Jil and Erin are wearing at right are as crisp and colorful as bunting, as expendable as paper kites.
Jil's shining paper jeans have same stitching and buttons as denim originals but fasten with Velcro tape. The white dress she wears on the dune at right is bordered with orange ribbon and pompons.
WHERE TO BUY
The tennis clothes worn by Jil Fromer and Erin Gray facing page 48 are by James Sterling. They are both made of Kimberly-Stevens Kaycel, which is 93% Kleenex and 7% nylon. Jil's dress is $3, Erin's shorts outfit $4 at Lord & Taylor, New York; Sakowitz, Houston. On the next two color pages Kathy Fuller wears a polyethylene-coated star-spangled swimsuit of Scott paper with elasticized top and drawstring trunks. It is $4 and available by mail from The Expendables, P.O. Box 48421, Los Angeles. Erin's two-piece striped swimsuit is also poly-coated for water resistance. It is by Tiger Morse and costs $7 at Cheetah Boutique, New York and Los Angeles; Fig Leaf, Chicago. Carroll Roebke wears Elisa Daggs's yellow jump suit that fastens in front with Velcro. It is made of knitted shredded pulp and nylon and costs $8 at B. Altman, New York. For kite-flying, Carroll wears a striped slipover paper dress, and Erin a romper suit with elasticized bloomer legs. Both outfits are by Tiger Morse and are $10 each at the Tiger Morse shops listed above. Jil's dress (center) by Vi Dodge for Miss Paper is made of poly-coated Scott Dura-Weve and has rows of red and blue fringe. It is $6 at IN Dispensable Disposables, New York; The Paper Caper, Chicago; J.W. Robinson, Beverly Hills. Jil's jeans and western jacket, coated with shiny Mylar, are by James Sterling and cost $9 at Lord & Taylor, New York. The white poly-coated paper play dress on this page is by Miss Paper and is $12 at Lord & Taylor, New York; The Paper Caper, Chicago; J.W. Robinson, Beverly Hills.
SIX PHOTOS
JOHN G. ZIMMERMAN