The Press: Out on a Limb with the Midi

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autocratic. The wives of political figures became favorite targets. A photograph of Mrs. Hubert Humphrey was captioned "That little old dressmaker is at it again." A simple dress and jacket worn by Mrs. Stuart Symington became "another one of those 'dumb' costumes." Society and show business regularly get theirs in WWD too. Just last week, Fairchild ordered up a layout on women who "become walking billboards for all the latest status symbols" and "allow fashion to wear them." He even gave them their own initials, FV (Fashion Victims). The caption for FV Barbra Streisand, shown in the transparent Scaasi costume that she wore to receive her Oscar, was taken from her latest movie: "On a Clear Day You Can See Forever." Coming up soon: a list of SMs (Social Moths).

Cause and Effect

Above all, perhaps, WWD under Fairchild has shown a taste for vendettas against designers. Norman Norell, Mainbocher, Pauline Trigère and Mollie Parnis have all had their work pointedly ignored in its pages. Often, it seems, for the pettiest of reasons. Miss Trigère was honest enough to deride the clearly pretentious term Longuette on a David Susskind television show last March. Her work has not been covered by WWD since. Cause and effect? Not at all, says Publisher Brady, who adds with a stamp of his tongue: "I think Madame Trigère has no influence on American fashion." Mollie Parnis lost favor a few years ago after she refused to give WWD some advance sketches of clothes she was designing for Lady Bird Johnson. WWD has not seen fit to cover Parnis' work since.

"If you are ignored by WWD, you're in trouble," says Designer Anne Klein. Her collections get coverage, but she complains that WWD favors male designers, such as Oscar de La Renta, Adolfo, Bill Blass (though he was snubbed for a time), Geoffrey Beene and Yves St. Laurent. Adds Miss Klein: "If St. Laurent showed barrels with two holes cut out, I guarantee that Women's Wear would brand it the coming look. It would also note that the stays were made of teak, the nails were of the purest brass and the holes were structurally cut."

Can anybody be that loyal? Certainly not John Fairchild, says Designer Jacques Tiffeau. In his own special franglais, Tiffeau laments: "One day he love you and the next day he hate you." Tiffeau offers his analysis of WWD's success: "They survive because they are alone in a business and because we are at a time when people are demanding a dirty newspaper like Screw or Rat, and they are the Seventh Avenue equivalent of those magazines. They are not putting a nude picture on the front page but they should, and that's where they don't go far enough." For good measure, Tiffeau adds that Fairchild has "the power of the devil."

The devil? John Fairchild? A man with a cherubic face and dimple in his chin? It seems unbelievable. But it is true that his power scares the hades out of many fashion figures who are not as outspoken as Tiffeau. When interviewed by TIME reporters, several designers said nice things about Fairchild on the record and then nasty things off. For attribution, one said: "Fairchild is a genius." Not for attribution, he added: "His type of journalism is despicable. He is the Mafia godfather of the industry."