European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - March 22, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Paris the Best food the Best fashion so they say by Edna Conlin United press International in the Paris workshop of designer Emanu Lungaro 24 women Bent Over heaps of soft peach silk mauve Satin and Smoky Gray crepe creating hand made custom High fashion for his wealthy International clients. As the director of the seamstresses showed bolts of costly fabric and embroidery in the midst of Mirror lined fitting rooms and television screens showcasing the haute couture line the question was asked Why do women Stream into Paris to buy garments is Paris still the world s fashion capital a photo Chanel s 1986 collection presented at the place de la concorde in Paris. The director of the dress sewing department or la premiere dans be Flou was struck speechless by the question. Why it s tradition Martha Legendre finally said like French cuisine. We have the Best food in the world and the Best  Legendre Learned her Craft from the late Cristobal Balenciaga Over a seven year period and has guided the Needles at Ungaro for 20 years. It would not occur to her or to the other 45,000 workers in the custom ready to Wear and accessories industries in France that there could be any fashion capital but Paris. Karl Lagerfeld designs customized High fashion for the Chanel firm ready to Wear under his own Label and styles for the fend Salon in Italy. He has said Italy has Beautiful clothes and fabulous fabrics. But the creation the ideas Are Here in  across the City in the new fashion museum at the louvre opened in january to Cement Paris claim As the fashion capital several ready to Wear creators reiterated that claim to students of the fashion Industry s new designing school. Paris geographically and historically has always been the fashion Center commented Jean Paul Gaultier. Claude Montana added Paris accepts everyone who wants to show Here from any country. I never would think of showing in Milan Only italians Are there. It s not International. Americans could show in Paris if they wanted to just As we have All the japanese designers  Montana provided one clue As to Why Paris stands at the top of the rag Trade it attracts designers from other countries. There Are custom designers and successful ready to Wear businesses in London Madrid Rome Milan Dusseldorf new York Hong Kong and so on. But Only in Paris do so Many foreign creators set up shop. Some of the great Paris names of the past have been main Bocher Germa Nelsa Schiaparelli and Popy Moreni italian Balenciaga Spanis Antonio Castillo Spanish Hanae Mori and Kenzo Takada japanese and Azzedine Alaia tunisian. There Are 21 officially registered High fashion designers in Paris not counting neighbourhood dressmakers compared to 11 in Rome and Milan the closest Competition to Paris creation. More than 50 ready to Wear firms displayed their wares in the Paris shows for store buyers and press last october compared to 21 in Italy. In addition dozens of other French designers and manufacturers who never show to the press flourish in Paris. Paris fashion has influenced clothing around the world for centuries. Historically it began when the tailor s Guild was created in 1323. The tailors also made women s clothes and by the 15th Century the word Couturier meant a tailor who made dresses. In the 14th Century Isabeau Baviere the wife of King Charles i sent French dolls dressed in the latest Paris fashions to the Queen of England. The English Queen ordered some of the dresses and the custom of sending dolls abroad to show off French styles was born. When Louis Xiv created his splendid court in Versailles in the Early i7th Century he promoted the flowering of Rich artist try from furniture and painting to fashion and jewelry. The French styles and textiles spread. There were 158 dressmakers in Paris in 1850, and 700 by 1870. The first of the haute Couturier with a big shop and a big name was Charles Frederic Worth an englishman who opened a Salon at 7 Rue  paix. He originated the use of live models who were called posies or doubles and selected to resemble his clients. With the belated growth of the deluxe ready to Wear Industry in the 1960s and the emergence of its own talented designers the clientele for the costly hand made couture business dwindled but there Are still 21 custom houses supported by perfume and accessories and an estimated few Hundred customers. And there Are still some 8,000 unknown Little dressmakers of custom clothes in France. A total of 45,000 persons work in French custom ready to Wear and accessory lines. Between 1983 and 1984, the Industry grew by 20 percent and amassed about a half billion dollars in sales. In addition to opening the fashion museum the government has backed the new postgraduate designing school to teach marketing and promotion and keep Paris at the top. Saturday March 22, 1986 the stars and stripes Page 13