European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - June 12, 1968, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 16 the stars and stripes wednesday nes Doy 196s the stars and stripes Page 17 / a i h l of a l a # to " # by Walter Hennessey is new York Burea James w. Brady publisher of women s Wear daily charged recently that the american press had abdicated its responsibility to its readers because it had stopped raking the mud and rocking the  other newspapers have grown fat and Corn placement women s Wear better known As wed has been scoring the big news Breaks and that should t be Brady said. As he sees it wed is practising a new form of journalism laced with satire irreverence and fun poking and is never never  caused considerable juror by printing a sketch of Luci Johnson Nugent s wedding dress before the release Date set by the White House. Brady said his reporters did t attend the private Brief Ings but got the information on their own. Of the paper s burgeoning paid circulation no wedging past 73,000 a Good number Are shipped daily to journalists and radio and television reporters who have Learned that the aggressively edited tabloid often makes As much news at it reports much of i far removed from what might ordinarily be considered fashion s beat. There have been flaps with the White House boo publishers Maga Ine moguls with Public relations people with designers and a whole raft of others most of them widely reported in the general press and All of them focusing attention on the Lively Trad journal which has done much to fuse the fashion world with the Jet set. Fashion today must be viewed in Broad terms be cause it touches so Many aspects of our lives said Brady who is also publisher of daily news record a men s Wear and textile paper As he discussed his favorite subject in a conference room of his head quarters on the fringe of Greenwich Village. Ten years ago we were writing about what de signers were creating and about the manufacturing and marketing of fashions. Now we do a lot More. Today we try to get inside the designers headband discover what influences their work the cultural and other experiences that shape their development the books they read the shows they see the things that make them and their creations what they  we write not Only about How their creations Are made and sold but also about the women who Wear them. We want to know Why these women buy the clothes they do and what their lives Are  write about what is important to our subscribers and that very definitely includes race riots Dean Rusk Vietnam and All the rest of  the paper s Zesty Outlook dates from 1960 when John Fairchild took Over As editor after establishing a reputation As an imaginative outspoken fashion critic while Paris Bureau chief. To dispel the lacklustre Trade journal image reordered reporters to dig out fashion news ahead of competitors used lots of splashy photographs a Davant Garde sketches urged manufacturers and de signers to provide exclusives and set out to scoop the daily press wherever possible. Fail child now 40, has since assumed the presidency of Fairchild publications inc., a family owned firm using the same formula to revitalize each of the com Pany s string of eight daily and weekly Trade papers in such diverse Fields As footwear Home furnishings electronics super marketing and metalworking at the same time boosting Overall circulation above 400 000and annual sales to More than $30 million. In keeping women s Wear in fashion s foreground the paper has accumulated its share of staunch friends and angry critics miffed advertisers have yanked their display ads usually to return later designers stung by faint Praise or outright disapproval have banned Fairchild reporters from their showings and feathers have been reporter seven presidential on occasion ruffled. Take the celebrated matter of Luci Johnson s wed Ding gown the design details of which were a top fashion secret until women s Wear published sketches James w. Brady publisher of women s Wear. He says his unique Little newspaper is the big news Breaks and that Shou three Days before the White House approved Rol Date. The paper had declined to a new Hrc publication briefing obtaining nes its own sources to beat the . The White House responded by ban air from the wedding thus a. T suppl women s Wear resourcefulness Bui Oney paper with the kind of National pub Iii buy  months later when ult ried All had apparently a 0\b"d., Bird sen s Wear was duly invited to l Naa and did indeed attend the i. La the 1again first with reports and it its blown was accepted with what inight resigned  e White a we Are now at. Peace u 1l u Penc Elbrady declared taking a in j on a t or Cigar and adding thoiighuull.\,  t. A Isles which Delthe Luci affair was tynic1 d isfried 0s because women s Wear is Seldom a paper publish it at the convenience of news la we will Honor a release Date if we agree,1 to bind ourselves to it Brady explained. Would rather go after a Story in our own  House invites us to a background we will decline and then we will try like find out what went on  out what s going on behind closed doors Bestif Lyl Pennsylvania Avenue or elsewhere has something of a women s Wear  Paris designers engaged in Marathon Fairchild have banned the paper from their for the past 10 years Only to see their Jeal larded fashion secrets consistently spirited Fairchild turned the trick by sneaking a Youngano excellent memory for detail into the j workrooms on a pretext. Another time Aphis dirty deed by sketching everything he i an apartment just across the  about it said Brady but they love Jie  some howls too when the Youthful publisher printed the first review of Williamr s eagerly awaited the death of a presi happened Brady recounted was Thailand Row sent a pre publication copy of the Bur reviewer Peter  Back that i would accept the Book the embargo with the proviso that if the offered for Public Sale anywhere in the for to the release Date i would no Longe they agreed. I our bureaus to keep an Eye open and about later a Pittsburgh department store put the Sale. One of our people rushed Over an copy Over the counter. The review was Al Ritten and in Type so we ran it in the next the episode was Well within the Bounds Stic Cricket. If anything he feels it dem that the Pittsburgh papers and the wire were caught napping. Had chiselled in some Way it would have rent. But we lived up to our agreement and  ahead of the general press is possible i because Many news beats Are scored in were Fairchild reporters have specialized too he added the majority of americans Aren t doing their Job. They might have of stringers in Washington or a one Man outside of their own backyard they lean , by contrast staffs its Trade journal pm a 375-Man news gathering Force in be walked up by 200 newsmen in 28 . Cities foreign , 12 major . Dailies and several in carry syndicated material from women s paper mostly distributed by mail to sub-1$24 a year is followed religiously by . Fashion manufacturers wholesalers and retailers itis must Reading for that highly placed monies group of aristocratic society women Fairchild refers to Ashe ladies and it is a Contact with seventh Avenue reality for some 250 european subscriber who willingly pay $300 annually for their air mailed copies and some 1,000 others on the sea mail  a formidable Enterprise catering to a specialized Industry audience has led occasional fallen from favor designers to lament that the paper has become not so much a reporter of fashion but it arbiter. But says Brady our Job is to Analyse fashion and report it we Don t dictate , some of the designers involved in various feuds with women s Wear find themselves sniped a from news columns. When Mollie Parnis refused to provide an exclusive on lady Bird Johnson s Ward Robe her collection was grandly ignored. Norman Norell s fall collection suffered a similar Fate. And unlike clients of Many such papers even the heaviest display advertisers can look for no special concessions in the news columns a stance not often seen in Trade journalism. Not a week goes by that we Don t lose an a because of our position on a Story said Brady. But for every one we lose we probably pick up six others. Some years ago we published an in depth piece on Sam Newhouse a fair Tough minded Story on his Vogue activities. The Condi Nast group Pul Ledall of its advertising and stayed away for a  but even in women s Wear s free Wheeling world the feuds eventually get patched up and the designers and advertisers usually return to the  s the wonderful thing about running the Only game in town. When Lynda Bird married wed was again first with the fashion news but this time the White House accepted fact with resigned  the White House barred wed from Luci Johnson s wedding after the newspaper ignored official release Date of sketch of wedding gown