Mini-Skirts “Finished,” Says U.S. Writer

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32314, 4 June 1970, Page 2

Mini-Skirts “Finished,” Says U.S. Writer

“The mini is finished, and I couldn’t be happier about it,” Mrs Wendy Jackson, an American fashion adviser, said in Christchurch yesterday.

The tall, slender New Yorker welcomes the long and lean look of today’s midi lengths. And like many fash-ion-conscious women she is ready for a change. The activities of the “preserve the mini-skirt” groups do nol bother her.

"We have had minis for five years now. It’s time for a change. Now women don’t have to look cute. The mini was delightful on a 21-year-old but the midi, if properly cut, looks graceful and beautiful,” she said.

Correct cut and proportion is the operative phrase. Mrs Jackson believes women must realise the “longuette” of the 1970 s is not the sweeping style of the late 19405.

“Women are no longer going round looking like lampshades. Now we have an attenuated look—long and narrow.” New Proportions ■ Asked to define the new proportions, Mrs Jackson began. with characteristic conciseness, “from the head down”:—

“A long neck, wrapped in chokers or a small scarf: narrow torso—the bodice cut high under the arm: narrow, skinny sleeves, usually a cov-

ered arm: a defined waistline a skirt that, moves.”

She sees lengths settling, between just below the knee to mid-calf. The maxi she regards “dead,” an Interim arrangement ideal for covering cold knees in the last European and American winter and preparing women for the longer look. Mrs Jackson is in New Zealand for two weeks observing the local fashion scene. As recently appointed director of the fashion trends Service of the American branch of the International Wool Secretariat (The Wool Bureau) she will send the New Zealand Wool Board releases on American fashion trends. “The purpose of my visit is to find out what my audi ence is like.” she said. “It is helpful to know about your way of life, climatic condi tions, the economy, and the state of the arts.” New Positions Her position has recently been created to give the wool producing countries of the I.W.S. the same “bird’s eye” view of the United States .clothing trends that they receive from the International Wool Fashion Office in Paris.

“Fashion in my country is interpretive. We are not j overwhelmingly creative,” she said. “Clothes are expenI sive to produce with all their . original seams and pockets, and mass production calls for interpretation. If American manufacturers can’t produce a fashion in a quarter of a million units, and sell at a profit, they just don’t bother." Although her credentials as a career woman are impec-cable-account executive with a large advertising agency, fashion director, fashion co-ordinator, colour stylist for several big businesses— Mrs Jackson is no stereotype. An easy conversationalist, devoid of brittle mannerisms, she conveys an air of organised competence and enjoyment of her job. She is also a doting mother of two young sons, and an admiring wife of a “6ft 4in tall and very handsome" ‘advertising executive on the “New Yorker” magazine. Mr Jackson deals with textile and fashion manufacturers, and the couple has many friends “in the market.”

While Mrs Jackson is away four-year-old Sam and two-year-old Beauregard, nick-

named Beauie, are being looked after by the family’s Jamaican housekeeper and nanny.

“Their daddy is marvellous tpo,” she said. “He looks afterj tjhem in the evenings, and he’s supervising a move to! a new apartment—l timed this trip just right.” For three years they have been waiting to move from i their present Riverside Park apartment overlooking the Hudson River—into a threebedroom apartment Sometimes Mrs Jackson J thinks she would like to be rich and retire to some nice, relaxed locality. But New York is "where the action is”—and the challenging, executive jobs—and that is where she really likes to be. Although she misses the children while working—■) don’t think they suffer, I do” ( —she believes that without a career she would be "a screaming mother." "It’s quality that counts, not quantity,” she said, with the warm smile which lights up her far from pretty, but expressive face.

A woman of style, who knows how to turn her unorthodox looks to best advantage, Mrs Jackson believes in a democratic fashion world where women are free to “do their own thing” and wear just what suits them. An item of indigenous New Zealand fashion she would like to see introduced to America are hand-knitted children’s jerseys. “I’d love to take some home for my boys,” she said.

Mrs Jackson was photographed in Christchurch yesterday morning, in a silvery grey flecked, fine wool, long-line tunic—clinched at the waist with a silver belt —and matching ribbed city pants.