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Like Adolfo, Seventh Avenue Designer Albert Capraro (TIME, March 24) believes that the Oriental look is inherently "very feminine, very flattering." His proof: slender, square-sleeved tunics and pajama tops in the colors of Chinese porcelains—mandarin blue, combinations of pink, gray and violet. American Bill Blass has his own variation of the quilted coolie jacket and long, slinky dress, but says, "What I really like is to take something typically Chinese and do it in a Scots plaid." Yet Blass does this only for his ready-to-wear line, preferring to remain faithful to silks in his couture collection (up to $5,000 an item).
Good Stuff. Like the clothes, bangles and beads range from Chinatown-cheap to Cathay-costly. Cinnabar bead necklaces with cloisonne pendants, made by M. & J. Savitt's in Manhattan, sell for up to $285. Plastic imitations go for as little as $15. Kenneth Lane's costume-jewelry collection features boodles of glass beads, worn in long, elaborate necklaces. Other accouterments, such as coolie hats and sea-grass bags, are more for fun than fashion.
The face atop the chinoiserie should be, of course, inscrutable—also fragile, round and pallid, with pouty lips and almond eyes. The Anna May Wong hairdo has returned as the "China Doll." Louis, of Manhattan's Louis-Guy D Salon, which is doing 40 China cuts a day, predicts that the chop will be selling like suey just about everywhere within six months.
Any fashion can go too far. Not every man wants—or can afford—a Dragon Lady. In practice, few women will try to look Chinese above the neck. The clothes themselves can be bought quite cheaply. The California firm of Tea Shirts has a line of $40 cotton over blouses with embroidered appliques cut from old Chinese tablecloths. Blouses, Happy coats and sad-sack pants are moderately priced in most Chinatowns. Non-Sinologists should be cautious, however. On the Star Ferry in Hong Kong, Author Dennis Bloodworth relates, he and his Chinese wife Ping once observed a young English girl in a smart cotton dress decorated with a string of Chinese characters. The girl, noted Ping, must have found the fabric hanging in the window of some small store. "There's nothing very odd about that," replied Bloodworth. "No," said Ping. "Except, you see, the characters say, 'Good stuff inside; price cheap.'"