European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - November 7, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Prices surge a weak Dollar will mean higher prices Tor Spring fashions Tike Ili Estt italian dresses by Jenny. By Glenn Kessler Nevis Day mention clothing prices and Claudelle Lawrence goes bonkers. It s Loi Aily  complains the 25-year-old new York loan registration coordinator from Long Island. Some dresses Are so Sirote and so outrageously priced thai s Why i try. If i can. To hold Oul until i can find Good  Coney Island school teacher Joanne Gonzalez shares Fler sentiment. The slur hat is Good Quality is Loo expensive and the Skull ,. Thai in t expensive is sometimes junk it s no wonder shoppers Are irate. Within one Jour or Wilh period this year women s clothing prices in the United slates Shol up 50 percent and then Tell Bach by a like amount. Even when All the swings Are averaged out women s clothing prices Rose 6.1 percent last year our times the average yearly increase of Tho preceding nine Yea s. And so far this year women s clothing prices have surged an additional 4.s percent. Thai is Why the dress you bought tort 12 in 1965 now Sells for s120 id $140, the $111 Blair new costs $120 to $160 and the women s suit that sold Lor $188 now retails  what happened for starters. The Dollar s devaluation effectively forced foreign clothing prices up As much As 10 percent Over the Pas year and textile prices Rasa Almas 4 percent Overall. Some fabrics widely used in women s clothing worsted Wool Lor example suffered even bigger Price increases. The worsted Woof fabric used in this fall s women s suits Cost $11 a Yard 22 percent More than a year ago. Bui the Dollar and higher fabric costs led Only half the Story. Cd Hon by weight accounts Tor 50 percent of the material in clothing and the Price of Cotlon has actually dec Leo about 20 percent since August 1987. Similarly by Suzann Boynton Santa Rosa Calif press Democrat  Hen Deborah Blackwell suggested blocking slay put shoulder pads foam pads sold separately from clothes and designed to be worn with any garment. Her partner at the bog and Fox Boul Iquo. Carol Mcginnia. Could t imagine Why Hay. Should consider such a thing. Everything to sell comes with shoulder pads in it said Mcginnis i did t think people would pay Olra for these. Bui the first do in pairs so a in two hours. Now we soil Lour dozen a week.". They keep saying shoulder pads Are going out but you would t know it by our store said Blackwell. Once you re used to the Silhouette you feel like Abag lady without them said one fan.  the sentiments of Many the Silhouette she referred 10 features squared shoulders that make the wearer appear to possess a smaller wars and hips than ii Lual measurements might reveal. Yet a recent poll by Levi Strauss asked 156 of inc fashion editors in the United Stales to list their lop 10. Fashion gripes padded shoulders ranked ninth. It s unclear Why Tho fashion press deplores so vociferously up melting the consuming Public so obviously adores but every season since 1960, when designer Norma somali Pul shoulder pads in casual Day oar fashion prognosticators have predicted their.  s shoulder pads looked Best in suits of the 1940s, which had Square military style shoulders but were creatively Cut and for the most part resembled men s suits very Little a their current incarnation shoulder pads had their heyday in 1985-66. During the height of the menswear for women craze hat was supposed o carry career Tomen from the Sleno Pool to inc boardroom. In an Odd reversal some blouses Are Cul Tor pads bul sold without them. In these the sleeve seam hangs to your Elbow the cuff to your Knees. Insert shoulder pad Sand Walch Tho seams and sleeves Lump into place. The Best arrangement Tor shoulder pads is Sailored Inlo and covered by the lining it a Jackel or Coal that will the stars and stripes the Dollar while declining again so most major currencies has actually risen in value or stabilized against the currencies of Many countries that produce apparel imports. So the Dollar s decline really raises the prices of things like Shetland sweaters irom Britain nol designer shirts produced in Low Cost sweatshops in Hong Kong. Just As important to understanding Why Price increase have been so sleep Over the past year is Why women s a jolting prices remained so Tow for so Long. Throughout the Early 1980s. They rarely Rose More than 2 percent a year sharply less than Iha Pace of other consumer prices. Industry consultants say that As Long As Consumers were buying Al ohcs and retailers were thriving stores consciously Kepi prices Down. Bul when business dropped off and retailers frantically looked for ways to rebuild sales they let prices Rise above their artificially Low Levels. By most accounts inc strategy backfired. Instead of rebuilding sales the higher prices seem to have contributed to a further decline said Sandra Shaber a vice president Al the futures group a Washington. . Forecasting company. The consumer is saying i can t see paying $800 for a jacket that i paid $500 Tor two or three years ago " said if learn Rubin vice chairman o Bonwit Teller so she is buying a new skill or pants to add to her  others simply Don t buy unless hey can buy on Sale. Always be dry cleaned. In sweaters and blouses where pads covered with shiny material Are simply tacked into the shoulder hey tend to slip slide and slither. Eventually ending up somewhere beside your shoulder. As she does with whatever subject she addresses Emma Bombeck Best expressed the Downside of a Huldt pads in her column of May 24,1987 has in Only been two Yoars since shoulder pads Cami upon the american scene of prove that All female linebackers Are created equal when the style first Canu in in was Cool running around like a no neck spreading. Liolio wings and creating a Breeze whenever i moved then designers got crazy and i could l control the pad anymore. They Slid Inlo strange places on my body. Causing people to stare _ it is All Well and Good Lor the rank and Lilc shoulder Pai wearer to stand unmoved by Art the rhetoric demonstrating once again that she will no longer be dictated to by every Ralph. Yves and Geoffrey who 1 comes Down Tho runway. But if she wants to carry this to its logical Extension. She will recognize the variety of silhouettes shoulder Pac can provide and Wear those hoi a o Best Lor her. Monday nov