(2 of 2)
Privilege and Disaster. Clara Treyz knows what she likes; more important, she knows what Mrs. Nixon likes. She also knows how to get it. Born in a Pennsylvania town (Sherman) so small it no longer exists, and schooled in Middletown, N.Y., with two years at Syracuse University, she put in a short stint as a clerical worker in a Manhattan bank before going West—to Seventh Avenue. First came buying and retailing, and then fashion consulting for Neiman Marcus' New York outlet. Married for 33 years to Christian Science Practitioner Frank Geisler, she dropped out of the fashion business for a while, but felt "superfluous, a nobody." Now, with 15 suburban women besides Mrs. Nixon to shop for, she finds her work more than satisfying. "A privilege," she says.
A disaster, say others. Her choice of clothes for Mrs. Nixon is a deterrent to the new spirit in American fashion, avoiding as it does anything new or exciting, ignoring designers with real flair like Bill Blass and Donald Brooks, though room has been found for Geoffrey Beene. "She is like a mother-in-law who never makes trouble," says Chester Weinberg, another of the ignored. "She couldn't think young if she tried. Mrs. Nixon seems to feel she'd rather be dull than right, and she surrounds herself with women of yesterday." Mollie Parnis concurs more heatedly. "Clara Treyz has lousy taste," she says. "Pat Nixon should let herself go, but I guess it's a deeper problem than just dressing."
The criticism may be premature. "Lady Bird developed a sense of theater about clothes that Pat Nixon doesn't have yet," says Adele Simpson. And Norman Norell, dean of American designers, points out that Lady Bird's sense of theater did not emerge until she was well into her White House residency. Pat Nixon is barely emerging from the wings, but at a preview last month of Bob Hope's Christmas show, she turned up in an apricot-colored, clipped-velvet evening gown by Beene that lent a new breath of chic to the proceedings. With Clara Treyz beside her, the salon vote may yet be hers.